[EAS] Cancelling Amber alerts

[Sean Donelan]

On Fri, 16 Oct 2015, Adrienne Abbott wrote:
> For the record, I'm all for discussing definitions of Event Codes and there
> may be merit in the NWS document but right now I'm not in any mood to accept
> NWS as the  experts in these matters, whether the events are weather related
> or not. NWS is still pounding Nevada with useless weather warnings while
> motorists are trapped on a popular Southern California freeway with
> literally no warnings. Facebook has done a better job telling people about
> the I-5 mudslides than NWS or EAS. This is a discussion that should include
> FEMA with their NIMS training programs and professional groups like IAEM.
> Again, we're broadcasters, we're the gateway, not the experts. We serve our
> community by providing resources for the experts so they can save lives. If
> they use the system incorrectly or overuse the system to the point where
> broadcasters and EAS lose credibility, no lives are saved.

NWS probably would say their mission includes weather alerts, not 
traffic alerts.  NWS did issue several weather alerts about the storms, 
and Twitter has numerous people complaining about EAS interrupting the 
baseball playoff game in Southern California on cable systems with
those weather alerts.

California Highway Patrol and CalTrans mission includes traffic alerts. 
CHP did issue several SIGALERTS in southern california, and CalTrans put
warning messages on highway signs.  In southern california, traffic alerts
do not use EAS.  Broadcasters interested in receiving SIGALERTS from CHP 
and CalTrans have several sources.

Several county offices of emergency management in southern california are 
listed as IPAWS participants and can activate WEA.  However, I rarely see 
any IPAWS messages from southern california.

The California Association of Broadcasters will probably say their members 
adquately covered the news story as part of their normal news and 
information mission and there was no reason for emergency officials to use 
EAS or interrupt their on-going broadcasts.