[EAS] CA Fires/EAS Activation

[Paul Campbell]

Wh is there no contact/conversation/planning between you all?  If you heard from a listener that a fire was raging nearby, what would you do? 
        1. Nothing, because you are fully automated, and NO ONE pays
                any attention to EAS, the phones, etc. ("Don't bother us at night!")?
        2. Call the local EM (do you have HIS number?) and get details to air?
        3. Contact local 911 center for information/direction?
        4. Receive a call from  EM, who knows your station, and has the number
                of someone who cares 24/7?
        5. Look to the local LP-1 (oh, that's you!) to contact whatever agency
                or entity your local plan calls for to originate alerts? If no one
                knows who is the top of the EAS alerting, perhaps it is time
                to open dialog. 
        6. Provide the information from your listener to the EM agency, in
                case no one has called them - or the EM is doing something
                really smart like trying reverse 911 in an area where the
                phone lines were burned (remember Colorado?)?
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Barry, I tried everything you suggested over a decade ago when all of the EOC chairs had their rotating monthly meeting (this one was at the Va Beach EOC). I introduced myself
and explained why I was there, which was to foster a relationship between all 19 localities in my op area and myself (LP-1). I spent some time explaining the EAS daisy-chain (many
of them had no clue how it worked, which isn't a slam, it's just how it was), and why I felt it necessary for all of us to stay in touch on a regular basis. I collected names and numbers,
provided my own, left the meeting with a general sense of accomplishment, and never heard from anyone ever again.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that most if any of the same people I met with are no longer there, which is one of the biggest problems when it comes to authentication. You can
understand my lack of desire to go through all of that again knowing that there will probably be somebody else there next year.