Community News: Emergency Communications

Good news -- albeit a bit dated. Was catching up this weekend and saw this press release. -- Sara

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. (March 6, 2009) – In response to the need for a system-wide communications solution in the event of a power outage during an emergency situation in Santa Barbara County, a community partnership between private and public organizations is collaborating to enhance the County’s communications capabilities with residents for the next regional emergency.

The Orfalea Fund’s “Aware and Prepare” Initiative along with the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Services and a local community group, California Concern, today announced a partnership to implement the county’s first-ever emergency communications system that links the County Emergency Operations Center with generator-powered radio stations and then to the radio-listening public to provide regular informational updates during a critical emergency when power is out.

“Our Aware and Prepare initiative awarded California Concern a grant to fund the Radio Ready program,” said Lois Mitchell, president of The Orfalea Foundations. “We are committed to funding this program because of its realistic vision in connecting county emergency officials directly to all residents via radio communication during emergency situations.”

While all stations in the county receive emergency information, the Radio Ready program is providing satellite communication equipment to the County’s Emergency Operation Center and select radio stations, which will allow officials to communicate information to local radio stations who can remain on the air with generator power during an emergency. In addition, a satellite station located at the County Betteravia Government Center will assist government officials in communicating when conventional systems have failed.

“The radio can be your lifeline for information during any emergency, and with the Radio Ready program, residents will be able to get accurate information during a power outage when televisions, cell phones and the Internet don’t work,” said Bill Pearlman, project manager for California Concern. “It’s important that everyone put a crank or battery-powered radio in their emergency preparedness kits. It’s a transportable and probably the best option in any emergency to get information.”
In the event of a crisis, the radio stations will broadcast regular information to residents, including evacuation orders, location of areas affected by the disaster, street closures, shelter information and all other relevant data helpful in making informed decisions early enough to save lives, protect property, and ease stress. The program will also be distributing, through the County’s Social Services Department, more than 5,000 hand-crank radios to area residents in need, to help facilitate the receipt of information in the case of an emergency or natural disaster.

“Radio Ready is a vital emergency communication program for the County’s multiple jurisdictions and it will further enhance our efforts to inform and protect Santa Barbara residents during an emergency,” said Michael Harris, Emergency Operations Chief for Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Services.

The program will also involve a public education and awareness campaign, the distribution of hand-crank radios to individuals in need, and emergency drill testing of the equipment. The program will launch March 8, 2009 in conjunction with Daylight Savings Time.

Indy/KCSB Form Partnership for IndyAlert

Have a few posts today! Here's a press release that is important considering the Gap Fire. -- Sara

For Immediate Release
August 18, 2008

KCSB 91.9 FM and Santa Barbara Independent Form Partnership
To Better Serve the Public During Emergencies

SANTA BARBARA--Radio station KCSB 91.9 FM has partnered with The Santa Barbara Independent to help inform the community during emergencies and public safety threats. This new emergency information service offers email and text-message notifications (IndyAlert), as well as radio broadcasts utilizing the combined news departments of The Independent and KCSB.

“Radio has proven to be the only stable medium during significant public emergencies,” said KCSB’s Chief Engineer Bryan Brown. “KCSB is the only local station with trained staff on-hand 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, who are able to pass on important information during times of crisis.”

Independent publisher Randy Campbell stated: “We’re happy to find a dynamic partner like KCSB that brings passion for community service, reporters on the ground covering news as it happens, and a staff broadcasting live 24 hours a day -- a rarity in modern day radio.

“In the past two years we’ve been on the literal front lines of many of Santa Barbara’s disasters and emergencies, with our website providing timely coverage we couldn’t achieve with the weekly newspaper. But we sometimes found the immediacy of our website was inconvenient or unavailable,” Campbell continued. “By adding text messaging and email alerts, we can use the wide availability of cell phones to keep our subscribers informed. Add radio to the mix and we’ve got particularly valuable tools for communication during a power outage or on the go.”

The two-way exchange of resources and information between The Independent and KCSB 91.9 FM will provide a broader, more portable, up-to-the minute source for news and information during an emergency or disaster. Both organizations hope to maximize their service to the public, local governments, and emergency service agencies.

Representatives from the radio station and the weekly newspaper will speak publicly during the public comment period of government meetings on Tuesday, August 19. These include meetings of the County Board of Supervisors, Santa Barbara City Council, and the Goleta City Council. The Carpinteria City Council meets August 25.

More About the IndyAlert system:
Using the Independent.com website as the hub, IndyAlert will provide email, text message, and radio announcements to subscribers to this free service.

In the event of an emergency, a brief message will be sent to subscriber’s cell phone or computer. This could be a natural disaster (fire, earthquake, floods), an event with the potential to cause general public harm such as a toxic spill, or a Highway 101 or major traffic artery closure. Any of these problems would prompt an IndyAlert to your phone or inbox (or both). Alerts will also be broadcast by radio.


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The Edhat Emergency Preparedness Manifesto Goes to BOS on August 19

Our friends over at Edhat have been organizing around emergency preparedness, held a town hall meeting and have prepared a letter to present to the Board of Supervisors. Here are the main points:

1) During an emergency there must to be a dedicated AM radio station that does nothing else but communicate relevant community information. This radio station should be well publicized during non-emergency times, so that every person in the County knows about it, and dials it up when needed. Ideally this station would have emergency generation.

2) The information on the radio station (as well as on official websites) must be updated regularly. And most importantly, the updates should come at predictable and pre-publicized intervals. When hearing or reading emergency information, the information should be time-stamped so citizens know when it was last updated and when the next update will come. Even if there is no new information available, the timestamp of the current update should change.

Consider adding your name at the link above as this is an important effort. Kudos to Edhat for doing something of value with their community.