Mark Basnight, Public Information Officer

A 27-year veteran of the Charlotte Fire Department, Mark is a Public Information Officer assigned to the Office of Media & Public Affairs. Mark serves as the executive producer of the Internet based "CFD Talk Radio Show" and "Flashover" an internal corporate television show. He is responsible for the research, development, and application of social media technology.

Basnight was responsible for leading the efforts to plan, coordinate and implement the Joint Information Center for Charlotte-Mecklenburg during the 2012 Democratic National Convention. In addition, Mark is responsible for the initial concept and lead the brain trust behind the "Build an A.R.K." campaign, a local initiative focused on flood safety and awareness. Basnight is past Chair of the DHS Virtual Social Media Working Group. 

He is nationally renown instructor and speaker sought after as a subject matter expert in the areas of media relations, crisis communications, emergency public information,  Joint Information Centers and the use of social media technology by public safety agencies.


Email: mbasnight@charlottenc.gov

The Charlotte Fire Department’s mission is to preserve life and property through rapid emergency response, code enforcement, education and planning.

The Charlotte Fire Department currently makes use of several social media/ web 2.0 applications including Twitter, Yahoo Groups (After-Action Reports), Google Groups (CharlotteFD_ALERT), BlogSpot (CFD News & Information), FriendFeed, Blog Talk Radio, Delicious, and Facebook for communicating critical messaging and public information that promotes a safe and healthy lifestyle. The Charlotte Fire Department also uses Google Translator to translate blog content into various foreign languages such as Spanish, Italian, French, Vietnamese, Chinese and others. ‘Flip’ video and digital cameras are used to produce video clips and photos which are posted on YouTube and Flickr respectively. CFD utilizes Bambuser & Skype video conferencing to conduct live media interviews and press briefings.

Mark Basnight | Captain
Public Information Officer

Office of Media & Public AffairsCharlotte Fire Department

Schedule/ Itinerary

February 27th - March 1, 2013 EMI (Emmitsburg, MD)

March 5th - 7th, 2013 EMI (Emmitsburg, MD)
March 10th - 12th, 2013 NCEMA (Sunset Beach, NC) 
March 18th - 21st, 2013 ANL (Pueblo, CO)
March 27th - 29th, 2013 NCDPS (Montgomery County, NC)
April 14th - 17th, 2013 ANL (Lexington, KY)
May 13th - 15th, 2013 NCDPS (Plymouth, NC)
July 29th - August 1st, 2013 ANL (Madison, KY) 
July 17th & 18th EMI (Emmitsburg, MD)
August 7th & 8th EMI (Emmitsburg, MD)  
August 19th - 21st, 2013 ANL (Denver, CO)
August 25th - 28th, NIOA Conference (Clearwater, FL)