[EAS] S. F. isn't planning to fix warning sirens

[Bill Ruck]

Today's San Francisco Chronicle and officials have discussed whether to 
fix the system.

Disastrous flooding along Texas' Guadalupe River raised the question of 
whether a system of warning sirens could have saved lives.  In San 
Francisco, where a network of sirens once stood ready to warn residents 
of tsunami risk, there are no plans to revive the old technology.

Though the system has been defunct since 2019 and officials have 
discussed whether to fix or replace the sirens, Mayor Daniel Lurie did 
not include funding for it in his budget proposal that the Board of 
Supervisors is set to approve within weeks.  The cost of repair or 
replacement has been estimated at as high as $20 million, and cellphone 
alerts, while far from a perfect warning system, are the primary 
technology the city relies on.

Still, the deadly Texas food and the lack of a siren system there 
stirred debate online.

"This horrible event in Texas should be a sign for our local elected 
officials to take action and not divert money to other programs and get 
this done now," one San Francisco resident posed on Next-door.

The mayor's office referred the Chronicle to the San Francisco 
Department of Emergency Management for questions about the sirens.  The 
department did not comment specifically on plans for the defunct warming 
system.

Emergency officials sad the system was "paused for maintenance and 
assessment in 2019" because officials found that "much of the 
infrastructure was no longer functional" and that the costs to repair it 
would be "substantial".

When the sirens were turned off, the expected price tag to boost the 
system's security and reliability was about $2.5 million, but the money 
was never allocated.  In 2023 then-Supervisor Aaron Peskin tried to 
fast-track the project with a $5 million injection of funds, but 
then-Mayor London Breed didn't include the funding in her budget.

The cost of an entirely new system is expected to be upward of $20 
million, before factoring in the operating costs, and it culd continue 
to grow the longer the city waits.

For the city, the question has been whether the system should be 
repaired or replaced.

Lurie did not identify any funding for the repair or replacement project 
in his proposed budget, which seeks to close an $800 million budget gap 
with funding and staffing cuts.

Without the sirens, the city still has other ways of communicating 
danger to residents.

"The recent tragic flooding in Texas is a powerful reminded of how 
critical it is to reach people quickly and effectively during 
emergencies," emergency management department spokesperson Leah 
Greenbaum said in a statement.  "While Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) 
and cell phone-based systems like AlertSF are essential tools, we know 
no single method reaches everyone.  That's why we're continually working 
to improve how we alert and warn the public."

WEA consists of "short emergency messages from authorized federal, 
state, local tribal and territorial public alerting authorities that can 
be broadcast from cell towers," according to the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency.  The city's AlertSF system does the same thing but 
also sends text messages and more localized warnings.

The department said it is "committed to reaching as many eople as 
effectively as possible in an emergency and continues to build on our 
alert and warning programs."

Former FEMA and California Office of Emergency Services emergency 
management expert Art Botterell said the sirens can only be part of a 
wider emergency response network -- they can't be the only way people 
are notified.

"You have to look at sirens in coordination with other systems -- like 
WEA alerts, which work well in urban environments but struggles in less 
developed areas," Botterrel said, like where flood-waters have wrought 
devastation in Texas.  "It's easy to get fixated on a single warning 
technology like sirens -- but there is no magic bullet that works best 
in all circumstances."

Botterrel said sirens are best for wide-open areas where large crowds 
need to be warned of danger.  Places along the cost could use ths irens, 
such as Ocean Beach, where tsunami warning should be as loud as 
possible, Botterrel said.  Otherwise the sirens can actually be 
primitive warning systems, he said.

"Sirens are essentially a one-bit message," Botterrel said.  "They don't 
give you any insight into what to do next."

New constructions techniques in the past severl decades have made sirens 
essentially obsolete., Botterrel said.  Advances in window and 
insulation technology mean most homes are so closed off from the outside 
that sound has trouble reaching inside.  He called it an "unintended 
consequence" of tech advancements.

Today, the best warning systems are pocket-sizes everyone has a mini 
siren on their phone, Botterell said, auditing that he's not surprised 
the city isn't funding a replacement for the sirens.

The city's emergency management department also made clear that warnings 
are no substitute for good emergency planning.

"Notification is just one part of San Francisco's comprehensive 
emergency preparedness strategy," the department said.  "We encourage 
all San Franciscans to take steps to prepare themselves and their 
families for disasters."

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Comments from an old native San Franciscan curmudgeon:

1.  While the sirens were an artifact of WWII and cold war air-raid 
warning the last system had voice announcements.  The voice was Dave 
Morey, KFOG morning DJ, a friend of mine.

2.  I see mostly defensive excuses for the City's attitude.

3.  And my general comment is "San Francisco is the city that doesn't 
know how".

4.  After being in the middle of the 1989 earthquake my confidence on 
SF's Department of Emergency Management is nil.  Maybe even less than that.

5.  A long time ago the sirens were activated by radio with standard 
two-tone paging hardware.  When that was hacked they added a band-aid of 
less standard or common control.

Bill Ruck
San Francisco