Plumas County Grand Jury
2014-2015
Findings & Recommendations
6 findings
F1:
The Grand finds that communication between Plumas County public safety agencies and railroad officials are profoundly inadequate.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1:
The Grand Jury recommends Plumas County Emergency Services and Plumas County Environment Health Agency establish direct local contact with Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railroad and any hazardous material carrier that operates within the county.
F2:
The Grand Jury finds that the lack of spill and containment equipment along rail routes in Plumas County poses a direct threat to public safety and the natural environment. A CARLON STREET
Related Recommendations (1)
R2:
The Grand Jury recommends that Plumas County negotiate with Railroad officials to have spill containment booms and absorbent kits in key strategic storage facilities in Plumas County.
F3:
The Grand Jury finds that relying on Hazmat Response Teams from surrounding counties compromises response times and threatens Plumas County public safety and 2. natural resources.
Related Recommendations (5)
R3:
The Grand Jury recommends that the BOS find the means to provide Hazmat training and certification to in-county first responders.
R3a:
To manage the organization while allowing the BOS to become more proactive.
R3b:
To better serve the constituents of Plumas County by allowing the BOS to do what they were elected to do rather than the day-to-day administrative duties that could be done by a CAO.
R3c:
To be more cost effective.
R3d:
To avoid airing any unresolved departmental issues at public BOS meetings
F4:
The Grand Jury finds that the lack of training of first responders concerning hazardous materials that they may have to deal with could have profound consequences.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4:
The Grand Jury recommends more hazardous material training between first responders and all those involved in mitigating hazardous material disasters. Union Pacific, for example offers tank car safety training in Roseville, CA, at CSTI (California Office of Emergency Services Specialized Training Institute) every year. The training involves practically all aspects of hazardous material incident mitigation.
F5:
The Grand Jury finds that population centers within Plumas County that are in close proximity to railroads have grossly inadequate protection resources.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5:
The Grand Jury recommends that the BOS and Plumas County OES conduct a "What If" evaluation for population centers within Plumas County that are within potential "blast zones" of crude-by-rail tanker cars.
F6:
The Grand Jury finds the reasons for any delay of burials due to weather or ground conditions are not clearly communicated to the families of the deceased.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6:
There should be written communications by the Chair of the Board of the Cemetery District to the families of the deceased that clearly explain and reasons for delay of burial.
Additional Recommendations
4
Not linked to specific findings.
R7:
The Grand Jury recommends that the BOS work with the Sheriffs Office in considering building their own sites at specific locations where private carrier activity is service affecting and pushing rental costs at shared site tower and vaults beyond affordability.
R8:
The Grand Jury recommends that the BOS, Office of Emergency Services, and Sheriffs Office stay informed on communications technology and work closely with vendors and experts to find a system that can provide reliable service and widespread coverage.
R9:
The Grand Jury further recommends the BOS pursue a cooperative relationship with local communication provider PSLN (Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Coop) in considering the possibility of using their new fiber network as a means to provide an alternative to the present radio system.
R10:
The Grand Jury recommends more attention to be focused on training with what we presently have, and finding resolutions to all the inherent problems that have been outlined in this report.
Findings & Recommendations
6 findings
F1:
The Grand finds that communication between Plumas County public safety agencies and railroad officials are profoundly inadequate.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1:
The Grand Jury recommends Plumas County Emergency Services and Plumas County Environment Health Agency establish direct local contact with Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railroad and any hazardous material carrier that operates within the county.
F2:
The Grand Jury finds that the lack of spill and containment equipment along rail routes in Plumas County poses a direct threat to public safety and the natural environment. A CARLON STREET
Related Recommendations (1)
R2:
The Grand Jury recommends that Plumas County negotiate with Railroad officials to have spill containment booms and absorbent kits in key strategic storage facilities in Plumas County.
F3:
The Grand Jury finds that relying on Hazmat Response Teams from surrounding counties compromises response times and threatens Plumas County public safety and 2. natural resources.
Related Recommendations (5)
R3:
The Grand Jury recommends that the BOS find the means to provide Hazmat training and certification to in-county first responders.
R3a:
To manage the organization while allowing the BOS to become more proactive.
R3b:
To better serve the constituents of Plumas County by allowing the BOS to do what they were elected to do rather than the day-to-day administrative duties that could be done by a CAO.
R3c:
To be more cost effective.
R3d:
To avoid airing any unresolved departmental issues at public BOS meetings
F4:
The Grand Jury finds that the lack of training of first responders concerning hazardous materials that they may have to deal with could have profound consequences.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4:
The Grand Jury recommends more hazardous material training between first responders and all those involved in mitigating hazardous material disasters. Union Pacific, for example offers tank car safety training in Roseville, CA, at CSTI (California Office of Emergency Services Specialized Training Institute) every year. The training involves practically all aspects of hazardous material incident mitigation.
F5:
The Grand Jury finds that population centers within Plumas County that are in close proximity to railroads have grossly inadequate protection resources.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5:
The Grand Jury recommends that the BOS and Plumas County OES conduct a "What If" evaluation for population centers within Plumas County that are within potential "blast zones" of crude-by-rail tanker cars.
F6:
The Grand Jury finds the reasons for any delay of burials due to weather or ground conditions are not clearly communicated to the families of the deceased.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6:
There should be written communications by the Chair of the Board of the Cemetery District to the families of the deceased that clearly explain and reasons for delay of burial.
Additional Recommendations
4
Not linked to specific findings.
R7:
The Grand Jury recommends that the BOS work with the Sheriffs Office in considering building their own sites at specific locations where private carrier activity is service affecting and pushing rental costs at shared site tower and vaults beyond affordability.
R8:
The Grand Jury recommends that the BOS, Office of Emergency Services, and Sheriffs Office stay informed on communications technology and work closely with vendors and experts to find a system that can provide reliable service and widespread coverage.
R9:
The Grand Jury further recommends the BOS pursue a cooperative relationship with local communication provider PSLN (Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Coop) in considering the possibility of using their new fiber network as a means to provide an alternative to the present radio system.
R10:
The Grand Jury recommends more attention to be focused on training with what we presently have, and finding resolutions to all the inherent problems that have been outlined in this report.
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.