Finally, someone from Contra Costa County is actually admitting that the warning system once again failed, making a perfect record of failures going back over 15 years. Supervisors Gioia and Glover will launch a full review.

I say give them a chance, but it may be time for Richmond to break away and set up its own system.

Chevron refinery fire prompts Contra Costa to revamp troubled emergency notification system

By Lisa Vorderbrueggen
Contra Costa Times
Posted:   08/21/2012 06:03:14 PM PDT

Click photo to enlarge

A plume of smoke emits from a fire that broke out at a Chevron oil refinery in Richmond,...
MARTINEZ -- Contra Costa may dump the private company that provides the county's emergency telephone notification system, citing persistent shortfalls, including slow service during the recent conflagration at the Chevron refinery in Richmond.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday morning also assigned two of its members -- John Gioia of Richmond and Federal Glover, of Pittsburg -- to launch a full review of the county's groundbreaking industrial safety ordinance.
The moves came during an update on the impacts of the giant column of flame and smoke that poured out of the refinery early on the evening of Aug. 6, apparently the result of a leaking pipe.
No one was killed but county officials say 14,000 people have been seen in local emergency rooms as a result.
The vast majority of the patients had minor symptoms but three were admitted to a hospital, county health services director Dr. William Walker told the board. Two had asthma and the third had a chronic condition, the doctor said.
Chevron's Richmond refinery manager, Nigel Hearne, also addressed the supervisors. He reiterated his company's apologies both for the fire and the resulting spike in prices at the pump.
Prices fluctuate when "the dynamic changes around supply," Hearne said. "It's unfortunate. It's the last thing we wanted."
While federal and state investigators continue to examine the fire's cause, the county is once again coming under blistering criticism for its much-maligned telephone emergency notification system.
"The vendor has a history of not performing to the county's expectations ... and it may never perform to our expectations in these large-scale types of incidents," Contra Costa Community Warning System manager Katherine Hern told supervisors.
The Minnesota-based Emergency Communications Network, which operates CityWatch, promises to notify 20,000 people within a half-hour after an emergency notification is triggered but it took as long as two hours after the Chevron blaze, Hern said.
The vendor has fixed a software "feedback loop" that bogged down the system on Aug. 6 but the bigger factor was a delay in about a quarter of the calls when the phone was unanswered by either a person or an answering machine.
The vendor could not be reached for comment as of late Tuesday.
The emergency phone tree system was put into place more than 10 years ago and technology has changed dramatically, Gioia observed.
But that doesn't mean the county should shift its focus onto social media such as Facebook or Twitter, he added. The county's 42 sirens and a telephone notification system reach far higher numbers of people and both options must be reliable, he said.
"Political campaigns manage to send out thousands of robocalls," Gioia said. "Let's make sure we have the same effectiveness when it comes to informing people of an incident."
The ad hoc committee will also reopen the county's industrial safety ordinance, an unprecedented effort to involve local communities in refinery operations that came out of a deadly refinery accident in the 1990s.
Refinery managers vehemently opposed it at the time, but most industrial operators and regulators today credit its passage for dramatically improved safety in Contra Costa's facilities.
The Chevron fire reminds the county that it must remain vigilant, Glover said.
"One of the things that has happened is that we have continued to get glowing reports in terms of the industrial safety ordinance," Glover said. "But it's time for a review."

Health officials release new numbers about Chevron fire

Tuesday, August 21, 2012
  by Nick Smith
RICHMOND, Calif. (KGO) -- More than two weeks after the Chevron Refinery fire in Richmond, there are still questions about what exactly was in the smoke the blanketed much of the East Bay. On Tuesday health officials and hazmat reported back to county supervisors.
The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors had a lot of questions for health officials. They wanted to know exactly what chemicals were released into the air during the Chevron Refinery Fire and why it took so long to notify those who lived in areas that were order to shelter in place.
Contra Costa County health officials gave an oral report to the Board of Supervisors and released new numbers.

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"I have an update for you today in that over 14,000 people have sought emergency department evaluation," said Contra Costa Public Health officer William Walker, M.D.
That's 5,000 more than health officials reported last week and they say the majority of those seeking treatment had complained of difficulty breathing and eye irritation. Most were treated and released, but three were hospitalized. Walker said, "Two at Children's Hospital and one at Kaiser."
Results from air samples collected by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and Contra Costa County Health, are expected sometime this week and may provide more detail on what was released into the air but, there were other problems.
"We hear from people who personally experience it," said Contra Costa District 1 Supervisor John Gioia.
There was a failure with the county's telephone emergency notification system.
"People have developed a high expectation that we're going to call them pretty quickly with accurate information," said Gioia.
It took more than three hours for the automated warning to contact some of the residents living in areas that were under a shelter-in-place order.
Officials blame the problem on a vendor promising a service they could not deliver. CityWatch -- the product used to make the emergency calls for Contra Costa County became delayed when it dial numbers where there was no answer and no answering machine. The system is programmed to redial that number until someone is reached, that caused a bottle neck effect. Officials say that affected 25 percent or 20,000 of the calls that went out. Whatever the cause, Gioia said the result was unacceptable.
"We need to reopen the process, look at vendors, hold them to a high standard and do a better job than what's been done the last few times," said Gioia.
County service officials say the issue may not be with the vendor, but rather simply the way the phones are designed to work.
"There were some issues with this one, there were issues with our past vendors, there would be issues with future vendors. It's the nature of that particular warning device - again the telephone lines, the landlines," said Katherine Hern from the Contra Costa Warning System Division.
Officials are meeting with the vendor for the county's emergency notification system this week. Should the county choose to switch providers, it won't cost taxpayers a dime. The oil and chemical industries are responsible for the cost of the emergency network system in Contra Costa County.
Chevron Help Center information:
Chevron is opening a help center in North Richmond on Wednesday, Aug. 22 through Friday August 24, to assist residents who want to file claims related to the August 6, 2012 incident.
Location:
North Richmond Community Senior Citizen Center
515 Silver Avenue
Richmond, CA 94801
Hours of operation:
9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Wednesday through Friday (Aug. 22-Aug. 24)
Additionally, the last day to make a claim at the Help Center at the Nevin Community Center is Saturday August 25. The Help center will remain open until Friday, Aug. 31 for people to submit requested documentation for their claims in person, but they will not be accepting new claims.
Live operators are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for those wishing to file a claim by phone. The number is 866-260-7881.
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