[EAS] Oroville Dame Evacuation

[Botterell, Arthur@CalOES]

Right, Larry, as our esteemed State EAS Chair Mr. Gabbert noted, this is a long-time, somewhat chronic issue.  It's not helped by the relatively high turnover and shrinking numbers of broadcast engineers.  Keeping track of who's active and who needs to turn in their ID is a somewhat daunting prospect... although perhaps a state Broadcasters' Association might be willing to take on that administration part.  I suspect another factor may be just the traditional dogs-v-cats mistrust between government and media folks.

I'd note, however, that at least here in CA any jurisdiction can swear in volunteers as State Disaster Services Workers, which could provide a basis for badging them and also mean they'd be covered by State worker's comp if they get hurt while responding.  Not sure what equivalent mechanism other states might have.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: EAS [mailto:eas-bounces at radiolists.net] On Behalf Of Larry Wood

Here at KQED-FM, the LP2 for the Bay Area, we tried to get San Francisco press passes for the critical studio and transmitter engineers. SF denied the request. This looks like one of the obvious things in life that can only be accomplished after a major disaster shows the deficiencies in the system.

Larry Wood, CPBE
KQED-FM