A plume of smoke released by a refinery near San Francisco caused a bit of stir recently, not because of danger, but because it pointed out a failing of the local emergency notification system.
According to the Mercury News, the plume release was intentional and not dangerous. Not aware, the local fire chief activated local emergency alerting procedures. The mis-alert was caught within an hour, and an all-clear was issued. Not a big deal, you may think.
Here's the problem: one of the key components of the alerting system in Benicia, CA didn't work. The local public information radio station should have broadcast the alert, but it didn't. The Mercury News said that confused local residents. They heard sirens, but didn't know what they were about. When they tuned to 1610AM, as they normally would, they got no infomation.
Since there was really no threat, this represents a good opportunity for the community to take a look at their alerting programs, which we're sure they're doing. While they're figuring out what to do locally, we can take a few lessons:
- Residents will want to confirm why they're hearing sirens blaring.
- No single means of communications covers all.
- Test, test, test.
- When something goes wrong, it very likely will be in the news.
All the best, and good luck Benicia.
Rick
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