Crystal Mullings is a Public Affairs Specialist focused on content creation for the Washington, DC Fire and EMS Department. She shoots, edits, and produces videos intended for social media and internal consumption. She works alongside federal and local partners as part of the District’s response during national events such as the US Capitol Insurrection Attempt and the Presidential Inauguration of Joe Biden in 2021. With a background as a multimedia journalist and public relations account executive at a firm, she specializes in messaging and perception through visual mediums. During her time with DC Fire and EMS, she has produced more than 200 videos, each intended to create a better image of the fire department within the media and public, depict members in a positive light, increase recruitment efforts, share challenges transparently, provide understanding of training and preparation methods and tell the overall story for DC firefighters, EMTs and paramedics.
12:00 p.m.–12:45 p.m. Pacific Time — Tuesday, May 10, 2022
The DC Fire and EMS Department’s Media & Community Relations Division made a calculated effort to establish itself as a public safety communications leader in the Washington DC region and within the fire service within a measured time period. Key hires over the past five years and a strategy emphasizing timely and consistent messaging with a recent focus on increased quality video production took the Department into a new era of communications.
A veteran fire buff, a seasoned government servant, and two former journalists make up the team that is pushing to ensure the comeback is the new standard of how best to tell the Department’s story and how to cement positive relationships with the community and the media.
Participants will learn how one of the nation's busiest fire and EMS department currently utilizes social media and video to provide the public with real-time information on critical incidents, special events, as well as for internal and external messaging. The team also shares what they did after protestors stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as an example of the incorporation of video messaging used to capture the actions of the men and women who serve the District of Columbia 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.