Evaluating the use of the Alerting System Reverse 911

Evaluating the use of the Alerting System Reverse 911
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October 15, 2012
Introduction
Establishing the right mechanism for relaying information about a threat in the time of crisis provides a leeway for saving many lives and at the same time preventing panic associated with emergencies. Reverse 911 provides a public communication instrument to combat emergencies by communicating in advance and giving the public the right measures to take. Through the reverse 911 alerting system, safety organizations in the US and Canada are able to communicate with various people in defined geographical regions to forewarn them of an imminent danger (After Action Report, 2007). The alerting system utilizes a database of many phone numbers and the related addresses, which are then linked to geographic information systems (GIS). This way, the safety organization maps the locality of the people who need to be cautioned over an impending danger so that they can respond appropriately. Usually, the alert messages are relayed as recorded emergency announcements, which are then relayed to the necessary populace.
Back Ground to Emergency Notification Systems
Emergency warning systems have past roots in civil defense and the main reason why these systems were developed was to alert the public concerning a forthcoming threat over a given geographical area. In the epoch of Cold War, the US developed an emergency broadcasting system known as CONELRAD, which utilized radio stations to broadcast any emergencies (After Action Report, 2007). Later this system was advanced to become the Emergency Broadcasting System (EBS), and then afterward into the modern day alert system known as Emergency Alert System (EAS), which was intensely used by safety organizations to pass on emergency notifications to the public concerning threats such as adverse weather conditions, such as floods, tornados amongst others(After Action Report, 2007).
Owing to the escalating occurrence of natural disasters in the past two decades, it is important for the government to have a reliable emergency warning system so as to reach a huge cluster of people within a short period when there is a disaster in the offing(After Action Report, 2007). The proliferation of reliable communication devices like mobile phones, PDAs and computers has advanced the manner in which emergency warnings are relayed. There has been a notable decline in death tolls resulting from natural disasters such as storms, Tsunamis, cyclones and even fires. The modern day systems are computerized and they facilitate rapid message delivery using the computer programmed “reverse 911” system (Barry, 2005).
In the year 2007, when the wild fires ravaged San Diego, the full impetus of this automated system became apparent when thousands of residents were contacted and given instructions to evacuate. There were minimal casualties as compared to the 2003 wildfires; owing to the reverse 911 automatic response systems, people were able to salvage their property in advance to avoid losses. The one salient attribution of this system is that it allows the recipients on the other end to send a confirmation message whether they have received a warning signal so that the safety workers can be alert on any people who might not have been informed concerning the emergency (After Action Report, 2007). When the public accesses reliable information concerning a looming danger, they are able to take the right measures during a disaster or emergency and they can ascertain the whereabouts of their family members.
San Diego County Emergency Alerting System
In the year 2007, when the city and county of San Diego had to deal with rampant wildfires, the accruing results were astounding. The safety organization successfully managed to evacuate over five hundred thousand residents using telephone aided emergency notifications (Robin, 2008). After learning bitter lessons from the 2003 San Diego wild fires the safety organization set out in mission to establish the right system and structure to combat wildfires over the geographical area. As a result, a telephone-based system was implemented whereby the safety organization is able to send telephone notifications to residents and businesses within a given geographical area that is vulnerable to an emergency (Dian, 2007). The emergency system is connected to the 9-1-1 database hence the emergency crew is able to contact all the endangered residents within a particular region whether their landline numbers they are listed or not listed (After Action Report, 2007). In the cases where the call is answered by an answering machine, the emergency team leaves an emergency voice message. Later the system will dial the same number three times in effort to establish contact with the particular individual.
Often, the emergency calls through the landlines might not go through. This is why the San Diego city and the county has been compelling the residents of the area to register their mobile phones with the safety organization, to make sure that no matter their locality, people are able to get any emergency notifications through their cellular phones (Dian, 2007).
San Diego’s 2003 Fires
The conditions that set a backdrop for the malignantly spreading destructive fire in 2003 in San Diego includes a dry spell of period lasting for a long duration in Lindbergh Airfield and Los Angeles. The Los Angeles reporting station had not received measurable rain since June
10, 2003. Heat slowly began to engulf the area after which wildfires came to being (Service Assessment, 2004).With a week of 100 F + maximum temperatures mid way the month of October, Los Angeles recorded a high temperature of 97 F (After Action Report, 2007). As late as October 21, the first major fire in southern California, the Grand Prix-Padua Fire, begin on 21st October 2003 the fire began and it consumed 60,000 acres in San Bernardino County and over 10,000 acres in Los Angeles county at the same time destroying 135 homes.( After Action Report, 2007).
With the prevailing weather conditions of light winds and low daytime humidity, high pressure mounted in the southward area. As a result of the building up of high offshore pressure gradient became established over southern California. This condition led to the onset of a restrained Santa Ana wind episode. Originally the wind passed over the mountain canyon on October 24 and early October 25 and later as it spread to the lower elevations on October 25 through the afternoon of October 27 (Service Assessment, 2004).On October 26, the Santa Ana wind reached peak intensity leading to the onset of the deadliest fire, the Cedar Fire.
The source of this fire was accidental flare from a lost hiker and its spread rampantly owing to the prevailing conditions. The Santa Ana wind was traveling at
60 mph and there was a minimum humidity of less than 10%, combined with the very dry fuels which created good condition for the fire to spread (Service Assessment, 2004). On the Sunday night of October 26, the cedar fire spread for a distance of over 30 miles to the western and southern parts places that were densely populated. During this phase of the fire burning there were 13 fatalities and over 2000 residential structures were damaged (Service Assessment, 2004). On October 30, the last casualty of the fire, a firefighter was killed. The one area that was adversely affected by the fire was the Scripps Ranch community where over one hundred and fifty homes were destroyed; this led to ignition of uncontrollable fires on October 25th and 26th.
The Simi Fire had ravaged over 100,000 acres before the firefighters could contain it. During the episode of this fire, 990 homes were ruined and six people lost their lives (After Action Report, 2007). The Paradise Fire was less destructive as it burned 57,000 acres, destroying over 200 residences in the process and two people lost their lives on its account (Service Assessment, 2004). By 27th late Monday the weather pattern began to change drastically as the Eastern pressure gradient went down leading to the relaxation of Santa Ana winds (After Action Report, 2007). On 28th Tuesday October, an onshore flow was established across southern California and strong western winds caused the fires to spread to the east up the mountain slope (After Action Report, 2007). The November’s favorable temperatures created a leeway for the fire fighters to contain the wildfire. In this event, twenty-two people lost their lives, 225 were injured and almost 740,000 acres of forest and urban area were burned within a period of few days (service Assessment, 2004).The costs appended to fighting this fire was estimated at $121million dollars and structural losses amassed up to $2 billion dollars losses (After Action Report, 2007). Over 3600 residences 36 commercial buildings and 1,169 outbuildings were destroyed, (After Action Report, 2007).
San Diego 2007 Wild fires
The San Diego County Firestorms commenced on the 21st day of October 2007 near the U.S./Mexico border at 0930 Pacific Standard Time (PST) (After Action Report, 2007). For a long period of time, the fire burned all the way through San Diego County and finally was contained on the 9th day of November 2007(Chris, 2008). The first fire to hit the ground was the Harris Fire, which began at Highway 94 and Harris Ranch Road near Potrero, in the southern part of San Diego County. This fire was fiercely raging and burned northwest towards eastern Chula Vista, causing the safety organizations to order mandatory evacuation of the people who lived in that area (After Action Report, 2007). Meanwhile, the Harris fire was contained it had consumed close to ninety thousand acres of land (Robin, 2008).
The Witch Creek was the second fire, which commenced a few hours after the Harris fire in the Witch creek Canyon (After Action Report, 2007). The fire was rampant and spread quickly to Poway, Rancho, Ramona and Escondido. The prevailing winds were moving at a speed of more than hundred miles per hour as a result the fire jumped some places and continued to ravage the wild forest going towards the West. This fire burned 197,990 acres, a factor which made it the largest wildfire in the year 2007(After Action Report, 2007). The third fire to rake the San Diego County was the Rice Canyon Fire, which started in October 22nd, one day after the initial two wildfires burning a total of 9,472 acres leading to thousands of mandatory evacuations of the people living in the northern part of the San Diego County (After Action Report, 2007). On the same day, the Poomacha Fire which commenced as a structure fire on the La Jolla Indian reservation, quickly extended to Palomar Mountain where it joined the initial Witch Creek fire spreading to the Tibia Wilderness (Robin, 2008).Owing to this, 49,410 acres were burned and the fire was finally confined in 9th November 2007(Robin, 2008)
The 2007 fires led to 10 fatalities while 23 people incurred fire injuries. Out of the 62,000 firefighters, only 89 sustained minor injuries (After Action Report, 2007). The total land consumed by the fire was 368,340 acres, and it is estimated that over sixteen hundred homes; 800 outbuildings; 253 structures; 239 vehicles; and 2 commercial properties were totally destroyed in the fire (After Action Report, 2007). This fire was contained through coordinate activities of over six thousand fire fighters. As a result of these fires nearly a 90% of the San Diego county public schools were closed and many businesses too (After Action Report, 2007). Freeways were shut down and the inhabitants were recommended to shun the use of the roads for some time. Fighting the San Diego wild fires was exceedingly successful as compared to the 2003 firestorms where massive damages were incurred including loss of lives and bodily injuries. It was estimated that the damages associated with the Poomacha, Rice Canyon, Harris, and Witch Creek fires could amount to $41.3 million (After Action Report, 2007). One salient feature of this firefighting episode is that 515,000 county residents received voluntary and mandatory evacuation notices, which helped them to run to safety (Robin, 2008). As a result, the U.S witnessed a very successful robust system of containing emergencies as demonstrated in combating the 2007 wild fires.
Santa Clara County Fires 2008
Comparing San Diego’s Reaction In 2007 To 2003 fires
Since the history of the US, the 2007 San Diego’s firestorms were the largest and the most catastrophic in relation to the mass of the land and property was consumed As compared to the 2003 fires, the 2007 firestorms were fiercer in terms of duration and intensity (Dian, 2007). However, the safety organization in San Diego had done meticulous survey planning and preparation to mitigate any risks accruing from firestorms. Having learned the catastrophes associated with wild fires in 2003, the county was exceptionally prepared for the anticipated firestorms. The After Action report produced shortly after the 2003 fires illuminated into the areas of shortcoming and operational lapses in containing fire and this helped the county to make significant modification to the fire fighting operations. As a result, fire fighters became properly equipped to manage any wild fires in future. Some of the areas where the county adjusted included Operational Are...