Deadly California Wildfires Ignite Issues with Emergency Alert Systems

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The wildfires raging through Northern California are destroying thousands of homes and have left 41 people dead. Now, residents are questioning why some received emergency alerts via their cell phones while others did not.

The Sacramento Bee reported that according to county officials, emergency warning systems are severely limited – and in some ways getting worse. This is mostly due to people relying more heavily on cell phones exclusively – over 40 percent of U.S. households no longer have landlines, reported The Sacramento Bee.

According to Jonathan Kramer, a telecommunications lawyer in Los Angeles, part of the challenge has to do with the law creating the reverse 911 alert system, which was written before cell phones became prevalent. “It’s a huge safety hole that grows every single day as people shift from landlines to cell phones only,” said Kramer. “A reverse 911 (system) becomes less effective every day.”  

Yuba County has built their phone alert systems – called “CodeRED” – by collecting all households’ landline phone numbers from phone carriers and sending out mass alerts in emergencies. County officials realize that there’s a gap in collecting cell phone information – only 30,000 of the 74,000 residents have a cell phone number on file. Cell phone numbers are reported voluntarily and not enough information is available regarding how residents can record their cell phone number with the county for emergency alerts.

This gap in information exchange, means emergency service officials must analyze emergency alert protocols because some people are being warned of danger and others are not. One resident from Yuba County, Cheryl Irvine said, “I do have friends who have a landline and they did receive an emergency notice via the telephone. But we didn’t have that.”

Sonoma County, another Northern California region, has the following emergency alerts in place:

  • Targeted calls to landlines
  • Texts, calls, and online messages to cellphones (to users who had signed up for alerts)

However, some residents still criticized the county for not using a system managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, that can send blanket messages to all phones, including landlines and cell phones. The county explained that this type of system is too “broad-brush,” and will result in sending messages to everyone in the county, including those who are not in fire danger, causing traffic congestion and delaying emergency response. It’s more beneficial for counties to be able to target smaller geographic areas with relevant information.

Sacramento city officials estimate that only 20,000 cell phone users signed up for their emergency alerts, out of a population of 384,000 adults. The city also estimates that it has approximately 52,000 working landlines on its emergency call list. System sign-ups for residents in Sacramento, Placer and Yolo counties, as well as the city of Sacramento, are online. Officials know they must do a better job of encouraging people to sign up, before the next natural disaster. “We have been trying to do outreach. The only times we see significant increases is when we have an incident,” said Stephen Cantelme, Sacramento County emergency services official.

According to Kelly Huston of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, “It is each county’s responsibility to create and maintain emergency alert systems.” She recommends that each county relies on more than one emergency alert system. “For example, the coastal counties use audible sirens on poles for tsunami alerts but may also have reverse 911 and radio/television stations. Rural jurisdictions may rely on door-to-door notifications. It all depends on what’s happening and where,” she said.

Even with the most sophisticated emergency alert system, residents are still encouraged to be aware and mindful of emergency situations. Many people turn their cell phones off or silence them when they sleep and the fires in Northern California knocked some cell phone towers out of commission, creating service blackout areas.

“If you smell smoke, if you see fire, if the sheriff’s deputies are running up and down the street, telling people to go…if you see your neighbor leaving on the left, your neighbor leaving on the right, your neighbor across the street leaving, it’s time to go,” said an official from Placer County.

October 18, 2017

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