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| E-Mail Forum |
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| Communications Breakdown as Chevron Fire
Causes Shelter in Place Warning January 15, 2007 |
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Once again the Contra Costa County
Community Awareness and Emergency Response (CAER) Community Warning
System failed to perform as an early morning fire erupted at the Chevron
Refinery. The sirens went off about 5:15 AM, and after looking out my
window and seeing a spectacular fire with flames burning several hundred
feet high, I turned on the TV to look for information. For about the
next half hour on all local TV stations there were videos of the fire
off and on with both newscasters and people phoning in speculating about
what was going on, with almost all of the information terribly
erroneous.
I called the Richmond Police Dispatcher and confirmed that there was a shelter in place order. I received the first of four phone calls from CAER at 6:38 AM, more than an hour after the first sirens sounded. If you want to see how the CAER system is supposed to work, click on http://www.cococaer.orgWhat almost nobody knows is that the official information source is radio KCBS 740. After a while, I did hear the shelter in place alert broadcast on KCBS. Toll takers were removed from the Richmond San Rafael Bridge. The sirens went off a second time at 6:55 AM. What we have here is a warning system that has been a joke from the beginning. It has never performed as intended. More later. At this time, the fire is still burning but appears to be under control. |
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