[EAS] Oroville Dam Evacuation...oh that was close

[JGabb at aol.com]

This goes back to what I have been trying to get California to do. With Arthur now at OES we have a chance. The problem is you have FEMA, the FCC, and local and State Governments all trying to use different systems. What we need is a single homogenized warning system that runs all alerts in parallel and leave no stones unturned. Our plan is to get the FCC to approve the new CA plan and then us add to that a complete State Emergency Warning plan Arthur has this in the works. Unfortunately, years ago I was in DC having lunch with Michael Brown (then head of FEMA) and he made it perfectly clear as far as they were concerned EAS was to get a presidential message across the nation. Since then they have spent $$$$$ on PEP which stands for "Primary Entry Point" and was for a nuclear attack. I could go on and on....but I think you all get the point!
 
Jim Gabbert
CA SECC Chair
 
In a message dated 2/14/2017 2:32:47 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, Arthur.Botterell at CalOES.ca.gov writes:
>Sean asked " Should that be a problem? "

>Shouldn't be, but not infrequently is.  In Contra Costa County (CA) a few years back we worked out a procedure whereby an IC could call dispatch and request an on-call "warning specialist" (trained in policy, procedure and the relevant social science) who would attach (usually just over the phone) to the Command as a Technical Specialist to handle the details.  All (!) we has to train the responders was that such a capability was available... generally speaking they were surprised and very pleased at the news.

>Some jurisdictions, taking what I'd suggest is an excessively literal interpretation of SEMS/NIMS, assume that their PIOs will handle this.  Alas, few PIOs have had in-depth training in public warning... plus it's not automatic to assign a PIO to every incident, so by the time that slot gets filled it's usually too late for warning to be useful.

>So no, the "reachback" doesn't have to be a problem, but very often folks on both sides of the equation haven't met, or at least haven't figured out how to work together at the speed of initial response.

>Art

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