(Courtesy photo) Vanessa Palange, community outreach coordinator, New Hampshire Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

CONCORD — Last weekend’s scheduled deployment of Vanessa Palange, the community outreach coordinator for the state Department of Safety’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM), to assist Florida officials at the state’s Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee has been postponed, HSEM has announced.

“After reassessing the resources currently deployed to their State Emergency Operations Center, Florida has asked New Hampshire officials to postpone the deployment of a public information officer at this time,” according to HSEM public information officer Tyler Dumont. “If the need arises again for a deployment, the State of New Hampshire stands ready to assist,” Dumont added.

Palange had been scheduled for a two-week stint working out of Florida’s EOC, where she was to coordinate public information efforts by communicating and sharing information with other officials, interacting with members of the public and media representatives, as well as with officials from various other agencies, according to Dumont.

If Palange is eventually deployed to Florida, it will be the first deployment of a New Hampshire official to Florida to assist in the response and recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Ian.

In the event Florida renews its request for assistance from New Hampshire, Gov. Chris Sununu said the state stands ready and willing “to stand with the people of Florida during this tough time.”

“Volunteers from our state have already been on the ground since the beginning, and we remain committed to offering our resources to help those in desperate need,” Sununu added.

The deployment is part of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), a national contract that provides disaster relief when a governor declares a state of emergency.

Palange was selected for the two-week deployment in response to Florida’s Division of Emergency Management’s recent request to “borrow” public information officers from other states.

If Palange is deployed to Florida, she said she will be bringing back to New Hampshire “any lessons I learn to better our (HSEM) communications and response” while assisting Florida’s recovery efforts.”

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.