To: Recipient list

It has taken us 5 long years to get a start on rebuilding our physical infrastructure at our worst site located on La Vigia Hill (Vic Trace Reservoir). This week the telecommunications equipment was removed from the old garden shed in preparation for a new communications shelter to be installed. Within two months we hope to begin piecing back the systems and looking for improvements in communications technologies to aid and assist the public during extreme emergencies or disasters. Timing is everything and we reached our financial goal to get the project underway. Thanks to all who continue to give their support. You know who you are.

Bill Talanian

Report cites problems with county emergency communication : Grand jury found official reports in recent fires an hour old or more

SCOTT STEEPLETON, NEWS-PRESS CITY EDITOR March 17, 2011 5:24 AM

When it comes to communicating with the public during emergencies, Santa Barbara County could learn a lot from the silver smith who, on a midnight ride in 1775, uttered these immortal words, "The British are coming! The British are coming!"

A report by the Santa Barbara County Grand Jury on emergency response efforts subtitled "Paul Revere -- Where are You?" looked at communication during the devastating fires in the county over the past five years and found a "disconnect" between front-line personnel, first responders and the public that "led to episodes of a lack of timely communication among emergency agencies, and between those agencies and the media."

During the fires, official sources reported information to the public that was as much as an hour old, according to the report. "At times information reported by local television and radio media was not current, whereas, out-of-county media sources provided more informative emergency updates."

"The reality is public information is one of the most difficult aspects during an emergency," said Michael Harris, director of the county Office of Emergency Services. "We feel like OES had made improvements. We feel like we've got very strong partnerships with the media."

Natural and man-made disasters are nothing new to Santa Barbara County. The report cites a life-threatening simoon in 1859, where the air temperature in Goleta rose "to a startling 133 degrees in a matter of hours," establishing a national record that stood until 1934, when Death Valley hit 134 degrees.

Today, residents could face wildfires, hazardous materials spills, barricaded subjects, dam breaks, earthquakes, nuclear disasters, flooding and even terrorist threats -- but in the opinion of the grand jury, the emergency communications system seems to be letting the taxpayers down.

This report echoes some findings from the 2005-06 grand jury. In a report titled "Emergency Public Information: What's happening? Where do I go? What should I do?" the earlier panel found that emergency public information systems intended to warn residents of major emergencies and urge actions they need to take to protect life and property "remain outdated, unreliable and ineffective."

Agencies were urged to make things better.

In its investigation, the 2010-11 panel heard about turf squabbles hampering information sharing. It uncovered "an overly cautious culture" in the county's public information system. And it found that, taken together, problems exist that cause "a reduction in effectiveness of the communication of alert and emergency directions to the public."

Mr. Harris, who came to the county four years ago this week, pointed out that authorities can put out information instantly, but if the information is not accurate, it does no good.

"If you're not accurate, you lose all credibility, and you lose your ability to get people to do what they need to do in an emergency."

Held up for special attention in the report is the Reverse 911 system, operated by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department. After finding the system "has shortfalls in its ability to alert/inform affected residents and media under certain emergency conditions and during certain times," the panel recommended the Office of Emergency Services immediately find and implement, subject to the approval of the Board of Supervisors, "additional and more effective systems to alert and communicate with residents in a timely manner during any type of emergency."

The investigation was prompted by questions from the public about how quickly alert and appropriate response information can reach affected residents during emergencies.

None of the agencies interviewed, from cities to school districts to law enforcement to the county have an effective public education program dealing with emergency alerts and how to respond to the alerts.

When it came to releasing information, the grand jury found many officials seemed reluctant to do so "because of verifiability issues."

"These officials expressed concern that past experiences where there had been the dissemination of inaccurate information could be repeated," the report states. "In the case of a fire event, this could lead to disastrous consequences."

But verifying information in the recent wildfires, the report continues, "significantly slowed alert and follow-up information needed by the public in some cases from 30 to 60 minutes."

"Such a time delay could equally lead to disastrous results. Ironically, because the most recent wildfire could be seen from a media building, the information went out to the public verified by eyewitness reporting from that station."

The grand jury also highlighted social media, including Twitter, as a way for officials to "immediately get the right word out and maintain constant official updates."

Turning its attention to Reverse 911, the report states that after a decision is made on what emergency message to send and where, that message can be go out within six minutes.

The system can handle about 2,800 30-second calls per hour, but the number is cut in half if a message in a second language is used.

A back-up system can help achieve more than 10,000 calls per hour.

The Sheriff's Department bills Reverse 911 as "the premier community notification tool designed to enhance emergency preparedness and facilitate urgent and necessary notifications to citizens during emergent events."

Indeed, during the 209,000 Jesusita Fire, for example, 209,000 calls were made.

"We have had constant success with our Reverse 911 system since we first went online in 2005," according to the Sheriff's Department's web site.

But the 2010-11 grand jury found the system falls short as an emergency alert system -- and alerts during the early morning hours "can be an especially difficult challenge," according to the grand jury.

For example, a 2:30 a.m. call-out one day in Santa Ynez Valley yielded just nine live answers out of 3,500 calls.

"If telephone lines go down during an emergency event, the system goes down," states the report. "Cordless phone systems are useless if there is a power loss. The present backup for such a system shutdown is boots on the ground knocking on doors, bullhorns, helicopters, and alerts from vehicles passing through neighborhoods."

Cell phone users have to register to be on the call list, but unless the person with the phone knows that the caller ID COSB stands for County of Santa Barbara, he or she would not know to answer.

The News-Press sought comment on the grand jury's Reverse 911 findings from Sheriff Bill Brown or some other department representative, but was told since command staff have not had a chance to read the report.

Spokesman Drew Sugars said the department "will submit a response within the 60-day response period."

Government is not required by law to pass along any information to other agencies and some emergency agency personnel suggested to the grand jury "that jurisdictional issues can play a role in the reluctance to pass information up and down as well as laterally in the information pipeline."

To that end, the grand jury recommends agencies do a better job of communicating and passing along emergency information immediately.

The report requests the various agencies to respond within 60 to 90 days.

So, how can the public better prepare for emergencies? The grand jury says registering your cell phone on the Reverse 911 list is one step. That web address is https://santabarbara.onthealert.com.

Once registered, leave the cell phone on at night while charging and answer late night or early morning calls. And if you have a smart phone, you can add a police canner application.

You can also register for emergency updates through the NIXLE3 alert system at https://local.nixle.com/register.

e-mail: ssteepleton@newspress.com

Early Warning Plan : Lauro Dam emegency plans,safety measures explained

SONIA FERNANDEZ, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT March 17, 2011 6:15 AM

What would happen if Lauro Dam burst and the water ran uncontained down the hillside into the suburban San Roque neighborhood?

While there is very little likelihood of the dam failing catastrophically, officials from the Cachuma Operations and Maintenance Board and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation tried to imagine that scenario Wednesday as they explained their emergency action plan to the public.

"It is a worst-case scenario," said COMB General Manager Kate Rees.

Lauro Dam is not as full as the theoretical emergency situation assumes, and a failure of the dam would most likely happen over time, and be detectable.

The more likely situation, said Ms. Rees, would be that the various sensors, drains and other monitoring systems would pick up anomalous data, perhaps an unexpected drop in the water level, which may mean a long leak to a major breach, or seismic activity that could weaken the dam.

From there, COMB and the Bureau of Reclamation would evaluate the information and issue a notice to the agencies affected by the event.

The government agencies would then put their emergency action plans into action. In Santa Barbara, that is likely to involve the reverse-911 system, where residents get calls from the city's emergency operations department, with advice on how to deal with the emerging situation.

The county Office of Emergency Services also is likely to be involved, depending on the severity and magnitude of the disaster. Backup energy and communication systems also would be employed as needed, Ms. Rees said.

In the case of an earthquake, "I can't say it's going to be an early warning system," said Darrin Williams, a civil engineer with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

People are likely going to feel major tremors at the same time sensors pick up the quake, which the bureau measures in terms of ground acceleration, rather than magnitude. A weaker, shallow quake that disturbs the ground can be just as damaging as a deep temblor, Mr. Williams said.

Lauro Dam, which was modified in 2006 after a fault was discovered in the area, is estimated to be able to withstand a .07G (ground acceleration) event, and the bureau is looking at raising the bar to a 1.2G standard.

Built in 1952 as part of the Cachuma project, Lauro Dam is a 137-foot tall, 540 foot-long structure in the hills north of the city of Santa Barbara. The Lauro Reservoir has a capacity of 640 acre-feet. The dam and reservoir are connected to the South Coast Conduit, which serves residents from Goleta to Carpinteria. It is known as a regulating reservoir, which helps to supply adequate flows along peak usage periods, while also storing water.

As for what happens if the dam fails catastrophically, the Bureau of Reclamation devises a map that shows where and how fast water would travel from a ruptured, filled-to-capacity Lauro Dam.

The bureau declines to disseminate the inundation map to the public, but the information is given to local agencies, including law enforcement and public works, for their emergency planning. The agencies can distribute their own maps to the public, Mr. Williams said.

From a 1998 version of the inundation map, the heaviest and fastest flows are likely to head through the San Roque neighborhood. The map is updated roughly every 10 years.

However, the dam exceeds Reclamation's "very stringent standards," to provide a "low risk of failure," say COMB and Bureau of Reclamation officials.

At least one attendee at the public meeting was happy with the presentation.

"It's good what's being done," said local resident Philip Walker. "I appreciate the work that has gone into this."

e-mail: news@newspress.com