Mark Basnight, Public Information Officer

A 23 year veteran of the Charlotte Fire Department, Mark is one of two Public Information Officers serving the Office of Public Affairs and holds the rank of Captain. During his tenure with Charlotte, Mark has been decorated for meritorious service and is a recipient of the J. Shands 1st Responder Award and the Burnette & Nobles Firefighter of The Year Award. He has served in the capacity of company officer, training officer, member of the Hazardous Materials Response Team and a member of a Heavy Rescue Company. In his current capacity as a Public Information Officer, Mark serves as chief editor for the department’s magazine publication, host of CFD Talk Radio, and is responsible for the research, development, and application of social media applications. He is a member of the National Information Officer’s Association and an advocate for the use of social media in Public Safety: Mark has been a presenter in national forums and continues to be requested to share his experience on the subject matter of social media and its use in crisis communications.

Email: mbasnight@ci.charlotte.nc.us

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, Google Groups, BlogSpot, FriendFeed, GovLoop, MyBlogLog, Blog Talk Radio, and Delicious for communicating critical messaging and public information that promotes a safe and healthy lifestyle. The Charlotte Fire Department also uses Google Translator to translate our 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. We are currently exploring the use of Technorati, Ping.fm, and other applications.

Mark Basnight

Charlotte Fire Department

Office of Public Affairs

Schedule/ Itinerary

June | Speaking @ the 2009 National UASI Conference, Charlotte NC

Aug. | Speaking @ the 2009 National Information Officer's Association Conference, Nashville TN

Oct. | Speaking @ the 2009 NCEMA All-Hazards Conference, Hickory NC

Nov.| Attending 'Social Media for Crisis Communications in Government', Washington, DC

Dec.| Speaking @ ALI's 'Social Media for Government' Conference, Washington, DC

Mention my name and receive 50% off the registration fee!

Feb. | Speaking @ the 2010 North Carolina Fire Educators Conference, Asheville NC