A Crisis Comms Debrief: The Garden Grove Chemical Incident

Join Greg Barta, Fire Captain and Public Information Officer with the Orange County Fire Authority, for a real look at what crisis communications actually took during the 2026 Garden Grove hazardous materials incident.

Greg led public information for OCFA's Incident Management Team through a multi-day response that evacuated thousands of residents and pulled in local, state, and federal agencies.

He'll walk through how his team built its communications structure, tracked coverage as it shifted by the hour, corrected misinformation, worked with media, and kept the public informed while operations continued behind the scenes.  We'll also cover how Meltwater fit into the response: catching bad information early, following the story as it grew, and measuring the coverage once the dust settled.

During this workshop, we'll cover:

• Monitoring in real time. Tracking coverage and catching issues as they happen.
• Catching misinformation early. A real example of how one word changed the story, and how Greg's team traced and corrected it.
• Talking without all the answers. Giving accurate updates without getting ahead of the facts.
• Using Meltwater in the moment. The searches, monitoring, and reporting workflows Greg's team relied on.
• Measuring the impact. How the team showed the value of their work after the fact.
• Lessons for next time. What worked, what Greg would change, and how to prepare now.

This isn't a hypothetical. It's a real look at what happens when a crisis communications plan meets an actual emergency, decisions, pressure, mistakes, adjustments, and all.

We'll leave plenty of time for Q&A, so bring your questions on crisis prep, media relations, team structure, monitoring, or Meltwater workflows.