[EAS] CA Fires/EAS Activation

[Bill Ruck]

There are lots of variables.

In Santa Rosa there is a locally owned station, 
KZST, owned by local Gordon Zlot.  He's a rare breed these days.

 From Tom Taylor Now 10/16:

Santa Rosa station owner Gordon Zlot was “fully 
prepared to [see] the building in ashes.”

Instead Gordon’s AC KZLT/100.1 and its sister 
stations miraculously made it through the fire – 
and they too went wall-to-wall and 
commercial-free with last week’s fire. Employees 
at Zlot’s Redwood Empire Stereocasters were 
“advised to evacuate Monday morning, but came 
back to save equipment and get back on the air.” 
Says Ninna Gaensler-Debs of 
<https://tomtaylornow.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=78b390ff9f5b002e3f050238c&id=e6d59a4e72&e=fdc4cb2263>San 
Francisco’s KQED Radio visited the scene on 
Tuesday and says staffers “fought encroaching 
flames with their own fire extinguishers, until 
the fire department finally arrived and put them 
out.” That’s allowed KZST and its siblings to 
keep serving listeners. Gaensler says regional 
sales manager Frank Kulbertis “has been hosting 
for hours, giving out his personal cell number.” 
Then he thanks an engineer for bringing in a fan 
– “It’s hot in the studio and smells smoky.” No 
power means they’re living on a standby 
generator. Now here’s Gordon Zlot – “We’ve been 
here for almost 35 years, and this is my whole 
life, right here. I was fully prepared to walk 
away [from the operation] and have the building 
be in ashes.” They were lucky. And Gordon’s 
already thinking ahead to some future disaster, 
like an earthquake. He says “You know you’re not 
going to have cell, you’re not going to have 
power. You won’t have anything. What do you do? 
You might have the radio. That’s where we come in.”

I know Gordon and if he had received any EAS 
activity he would have played it on his stations.

But if it was in the San Francisco Bay Area all 
of the corporate stations likely would have yawned.

TODAY, though, there is a fire in the northern 
part of Santa Cruz County, a few miles from my 
family cabin in the mountains.  This is getting 
personal.  The local Monterey / Santa Cruz EAS 
plan refers to stations that no longer 
participate.  So if CALFIRE, which has fire 
jurisdiction in this part of the county, or the 
Santa Cruz Sheriff, desire to activate EAS, it won't happen.

And just got an update from the county.  CALFIRE 
managed to cut the AT&T fiber so Santa Cruz 
County is mostly disconnected from the 
world.  The 911 tandem switch is outside of the 
county.  As the County Communications Manager has 
said "That turns Santa Cruz County into an 
Italian fishing village".  The county's Mt. 
Bielawski radio site is now in jeopardy.

Bill Ruck
Curmudgeon
San Francisco