Public Alerts for Public Safety Power Shutoffs and Emergencies

Conclusions 5

• CL1
  Residents who depend on electricity for vital medical devices or to keep medications refrigerated may not receive the PSPS or emergency notifications intended for them.
• CL2
  Residents who depend on electricity for essential medical devices, keeping medications refrigerated, or other vital needs may not be able to carry out the PSPS or emergency recommendations intended for them.
• CL3
  Santa Barbara County's emergency information and advice for the public is scattered over several websites, which are not coordinated, infrequently updated, sometimes confusing, and may not link to each other.
• CL4
  PSPS decisions are made entirely by the power companies without input from public agencies and elected officials until after the shutdown ends, via the California Public Utilities Commission.
• CL5
  During this investigation, it became clear to the 2019-20 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury that planning and carrying out County responses to PSPS and emergencies are complex, difficult tasks. Even for PSPS, the Jury found it necessary to limit its inquiry to communications with the public. The limitations were much more drastic for dealing with emergencies. The details in this Report and the far greater details in the County and City Plans show conscientious work by local government staff. 26 santabarbara.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3715997&GUID=6CC5C72B-5CE5-4085-8A40- 98267496BD21&Options=&Search= Meeting of November 6, 2018, Attachment and Presentation of Item 18-00844. Last visited May 25, 2020 2019-20 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury Page 13 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Finding 1a Residents who do not comprehend either English or Spanish are at risk of not understanding PSPS warnings. Finding 1b Residents whose electricity accounts are held by landlords or property managers are at risk of not receiving the PSPS warnings sent by their power company. Recommendation 1 That the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors direct and fund the Office of Emergency Management to update and improve its contact lists and communication methods to maximize the likelihood that all residents will receive the PSPS warnings or advice they need. Finding 2 Residents who depend on electricity for vital medical devices or to keep medications refrigerated may not receive the PSPS or emergency notifications intended for them. Recommendation 2 That the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors direct and fund the Office of Emergency Management and the Department of Public Health to identify individuals dependent on electricity for essential medical needs. Finding 3 Residents who depend on electricity for essential medical devices, keeping medications refrigerated, or other vital needs may not be able to carry out the PSPS or emergency recommendations intended for them. Recommendation 3 That the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors direct and fund the Office of Emergency Management and the Department of Public Health to ensure the access of individuals dependent on electricity for survival to the supplies and locations recommended for them on County websites. Finding 4 Santa Barbara County's emergency information and advice for the public is scattered over several websites, which are not coordinated, infrequently updated, sometimes confusing, and may not link to each other. Recommendation 4 That the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors direct and fund the Office of Emergency Management to ensure that all County websites providing emergency information are coordinated, easy to understand and navigate, regularly updated, and use clear links to each other to make all information readily accessible. 2019-20 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury Page 14 Finding 5 PSPS decisions are made entirely by the power companies without input from public agencies and elected officials until after the shutdown ends, via the California Public Utilities Commission. Recommendation 5 That the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors publicly urge the State of California legislature to require local governmental input into PSPS decisions before they are announced and carried out. REQUEST FOR RESPONSE Pursuant to California Penal Code Section 933 and 933.05, the Santa Barbara County Grand Jury requests each entity or individual named below to respond to the enumerated findings and recommendations within the specified statutory time limit: Responses to Findings shall be either:  Agree  Disagree wholly  Disagree partially with an explanation Responses to Recommendations shall be one of the following:  Has been implemented, with brief summary of implementation actions taken  Will be implemented, with an implementation schedule  Requires further analysis, with analysis completion date of no more than six months after the issuance of the report  Will not be implemented, with an explanation of why Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors – 90 days Findings 1a, 1b, 2, 3, 4, and 5 Recommendations 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 2019-20 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury Page 15

Observations 1

• OB1
  PSPS: Dissemination of Preparation Advice For both PSPS and emergencies, the County's main "one stop" website is OEM's ReadySBC.5 PG&E6 and SCE7 also maintain websites dealing with PSPS. These websites contain information about the reasons and decision procedures for PSPS events, advice about preparations, and descriptions of particular events as they unfold. The preparation advice includes ways to stay abreast of future events, such as sign-ups and websites. These sites also have recommendations for vital supplies, which might be difficult to obtain once a PSPS has begun. PSPS Alerts and Advice: Imminent Shutdown The decision to declare a PSPS is made exclusively by the utility, either PG&E or SCE. Neither the County nor the Grand Jury has jurisdiction over them. The utility's decision is subject to the PUC's Rule-making Resolutions and Guidelines and its reporting requirements. Potential sanctions can follow a PUC hearing on adherence to the guidelines, including that the utilities "must deploy de-energization as a measure of last resort and must justify why de- energization was deployed over other possible measures or actions," and an overall requirement that the decision be "reasonable."8 Public notifications also form a significant part of these guidelines. Each utility outlines its decision process on its website. Neither PG&E nor SCE base their decision on a formula. Both use factors describing conditions near the power line and likely effects of the shutdown, but the factors are not identical. Those common to both are not given the same weight. For example, a wind speed of 35 mph or a humidity level of 20 percent may be of more concern to one utility than to the other. The factors include:  National Weather Service Red Flag Warnings  low humidity levels  high forecasted sustained winds and strong wind gusts  dry fuel  information from field crews and hundreds of weather stations (both public and corporate)  assessments by in-house meteorologists using their own high-resolution weather models  public safety advice from state and local authorities (fire, police, emergency services)  expected impact of a shutdown on essential services  the state of the potentially impacted circuits Similar factors are used to decide when power may be safely restored. Before this can be done, crews must patrol the affected lines to check for damage and make repairs. These activities must be done in 5 readysbc.org and readysbc.org/psps Last visited May 25, 2020 6 www.pge.com. Choose OUTAGES and use the list under PUBLIC SAFETY POWER SHUTOFF. Last visited May 25, 2020 7 www.sce.com/safety/wildfire/psps See also www.sce.com/safety/wildfire/psps/fire-weather Last visited May 25, 2020 8 "De-Energization (PSPS)" California Public Utilities Commission. www.cpuc.ca.gov/deenergization/ Last visited May 25, 2020 2019-20 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury Page 4 daylight, and can take as long as two or more days. Once the decision is made, power can be restored in minutes. However, the public is advised to disconnect appliances during the outage to avoid surges, leaving a single lamp on to show when the power returns. PG&E notes that the shutdown will affect all users served by the power line, even if they are far from the high-threat section. Much of Santa Barbara's North County could be shut down even when it is at low risk for fire, because it is served by PG&E lines which come from Atascadero or Morro Bay. SCE is further ahead in modernizing its grid and dividing it into sections, so its shutdowns are likely to affect smaller areas. The City of Lompoc owns its electrical utility, but uses PG&E lines. The City has no control over these lines.9 PG&E can shut off the City's power, even if there is no fire risk in the area. After the shutdown decision has been made, usually three days before it is planned to begin, each utility sends PSPS alerts to the County’s OEM, Fire, Sheriff and Public Health, other critical service providers such as cities, hospitals, telecommunications, water and sanitation agencies, and to the other public utility. Earlier notification seems to be unwise: the inaccuracy of weather prediction beyond three days increases the likelihood that the shutoff will be canceled after disrupting all these essential services and creating warning fatigue among these groups, as well as the public. Once alerted by the utility, OEM immediately sends alerts directly to all County departments, affected cities and special districts, and hospitals. It also notifies other key services such as grocery stores, gas stations and hotels.10 The Public Health Department notifies health facilities and senior centers.11 Also, SCE notifies these facilities and centers soon after notifying OEM. OEM and the utilities send alerts and advice to the public usually one day after they have been notified, by direct contact to individuals and by social media. In addition, OEM may interrupt public media. The active methods used are summarized in Figure 1. The next section gives more details of these efforts and those of Public Health, as well as passive methods, which provide more information to those who actively seek it. 9www.cityoflompoc.com/government/departments/utilities https://www.cityoflompoc.com/government/departments/utilities Last visited May 25, 2020 10 OEM also notifies education (all levels), hazardous materials facilities, and communications infrastructure managers. 11 Public Health alerts nursing homes, blood banks, dialysis centers, and skilled nursing, health care and hospice facilities. 2019-20 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury Page 5 Figure 1: PSPS Active Public Contact Methods: Summary Whom to Tell and How to Tell Utilities Two days before the planned shutdown, PG&E and SCE alert their customers automatically, in English and Spanish, using customers' billing account information. Earlier on the same day, both utilities notify Access and Functional Needs (AFN, or Medical Needs) customers enrolled in their Medical Baseline Programs. Both utilities will make extra individual phone calls to these customers if an initial automated email, text or phone call is not acknowledged. If the extra phone calls are unsuccessful, they will try to visit these customers in person. Both utility websites say that residents whose electric service accounts are held by a landlord or property manager such as in apartment buildings or mobile home parks, are usually alerted only if they have registered for Zip Code alerts12 or their manager alerts them. SCE has asked the account holders to post information telling tenants they can sign up for alerts and notifications at the zip code level or for the exact address if the account holder is willing to give tenants the account information. For customers who understand neither English nor Spanish, PG&E offers the options to receive messages in Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Korean and Tagalog. SCE offers Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese and Tagalog. Both allow users to choose these different language versions of their websites by clicking "English" at the right of the main page. 12 www.sce.com/ Search for Zip Code Alerts. Last visited May 25, 2020 2019-20 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury Page 6 Both utilities use platforms such as Nextdoor.com and Nixle13 to notify their subscribers. These outlets are less preferred because many of the people they inform are likely to be outside the affected area. The area affected will be identified on the utility's website, as well as OEM's, but even a brief false alarm can contribute to warning fatigue. Office of Emergency Management (OEM) OEM has different lists of contacts, so it may reach some people the utilities miss. Its main contacts for individual communications are people who are signed up for alerts on ReadySBC. Previously, residents used Aware and Prepare14 to register for emergency notices. Those that do so now have their information automatically sent to ReadySBC. As of May 2020, OEM sends its individual messages only in English and Spanish. It is considering sending messages in some Mixtec languages, especially for the Santa Maria area. There is no in-house capability for this yet, but interpreters have been identified. OEM does not make a separate or increased effort to notify people medically dependent on electrical power. For example, ReadySBC has no provision for including such information when signing up. Public Health Department The Santa Barbara County Departments of Public Health and Social Services (DSS) work together to identify potentially affected AFN (Medical Needs) residents. DSS uses its client database including Adult Protective Services, In Home Support Services, and Child Welfare Services. Public Health uses information from healthcare providers, the Independent Living Resource Center, other partner agencies, and its own lists of licensed and unlicensed facilities providing support services. It has a list of Medicare patients who are dependent on electrical medical equipment; however, there are no phone numbers attached to the list. This list and those from other local agencies and facilities are not always accurate and may be outdated: the person listed may be in hospice, deceased, recovered or moved. Public Health can also request limited information on community members through the federal Health and Human Services emPOWER Program. It has no lists of people who depend on electricity to refrigerate medications. When a utility notifies OEM of a potential event, it provides phone numbers of registered Medical Needs customers; upon written request from OEM, the utility will provide a list with contact information for those in the affected circuits. Earlier notification is not possible under national privacy rules established in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). If the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is activated, it can set up a center to take calls for assistance from individuals. The Jury learned that many of those on the AFN lists compiled by Public Health have not signed up for the Medical Baseline programs of the utilities. Public Health relies on its partner agencies and support facilities it is able to contact, to make sure information gets to its clients. It is very difficult for Public Health to make door-to-door visits, even after reducing its lists to non-respondents who are not on the lists of other agencies, facilities or utilities. In a few cases, such visits may be possible with the help of personnel from other County agencies. 13 To sign up for Nixle, send your Zip Code as a text to 888777. 14 www.awareandprepare.org/ Aware and Prepare began in Santa Barbara, replacing the Reverse 9-1-1 system that was previously used, but will soon be national and focus on emergency preparation, not alerts. Last visited May 25, 2020 2019-20 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury Page 7 When Usually three days before the planned shutdown, the first contacts are from the utility to OEM and then from both the utility and OEM to County agencies and essential services. Two days before the shutdown, both the utility and OEM send their first alerts to the public. Another automated alert is sent one day before shutdown, and another just before it begins. During the shutoff, and for a short period after it, OEM and the utility continue to send updates through social media, local news, radio and their websites, and also to each other to keep messages consistent. This can be especially important close to the time when power is restored to avoid surges. What The initial automated message from the utilities has a standard format and content. The following template is from OEM, which bases its message closely on the slightly longer one from the utility: PSPS Update: Potential Outage [General Area] On [Day Of The Week] ([Date]) [Utility Name] has notified the public that they are considering turning off power to part of Santa Barbara County this week in order to reduce the risk of fire. Power has not yet been turned off. The outage may occur in [Area Description], beginning on [Day Of The Week] ([Date Fraction]). Residents in that area are encouraged to make preparations for a possible multiple day power outage and to check on friends and neighbors to make sure they are prepared. To determine if you live or work in or near a potential outage area, view the Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) Interactive Map. Call [Utility Acronym] at [Utility Phone Number] or visit [Utility PSPS Website] for more info on this potential outage. Subsequent messages can depend on later events so they are less easily standardized or predicted. However, they are also coordinated between OEM and the utility for consistency. For most people, the information and action advice in these messages and on the websites they suggest are expected to be adequate if carefully read and promptly acted on. However, the Jury learned they may not be adequate for people who are ill, frail, disabled, or need power for vital medical resources. Many of these may need to evacuate, not only for medical reasons but also because elevators, garage doors, electric gates, air conditioners and other items will not work. Others may need assistance for tasks like food preparation without cooking facilities. The County does not provide appropriate shelters of its own or directions to any operated by others. The Red Cross will construct shelters in some emergencies, but it does not regard PSPS events as emergencies and does not respond to them. OEM's advice to people dependent on electricity can be downloaded from readysbc.org/psps, under Additional Preparedness Resources. Briefly, its advice is either to rely on a generator or back-up batteries, or to plan for a local and an out-of-area location where power can be accessed. One interviewee told the Jury that even large batteries, costing more than $1,000, may need to be recharged after running major equipment for 32 hours. Emergency Warnings and Advice to the Public Initially, the County's public communications for emergencies are the responsibility of the Sheriff's Office and Fire Department, whose officers are at the scene. If the emergency persists, control of most decisions and messages moves to a Unified Command which meets in the Emergency Operations Center at the OEM building. 2019-20 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury Page 8 Emergencies: Dissemination of Preparation Advice The main source of County advice on preparing for an emergency is the ReadySBC website. At present, the only mention of "emergencies" on this website's main page is a link for sign-ups to ReadySBC itself. The Jury learned that ReadySBC was originally developed in response to the Thomas Fire and the January 2018 debris flows. Most of its information on emergencies is specific to storms and found under Storm Readiness. This page has a Build a Disaster Kit link to basic and emergency lists on the FEMA site. These may be daunting for some residents. A Chapman University study estimated that only 29.8 percent of U.S. adults who speak English or Spanish would answer "Yes" to Question 12 of its 2018 Survey15: "Have you or anyone in your household put together a disaster or emergency supply kit, containing supplies such as food, water and medical supplies?" If ReadySBC were to suggest that only a few items need to be constantly on hand while other may be obtainable after evacuating, more people might make useful survival kits. Based on responses to Question 33 of the Chapman survey, the study estimated that 10.9 percent feel they would not know where to go if required to evacuate. Some who think they do know may find their choice to be unavailable. This percentage might be higher among those who are old or disabled, though some are likely to have caregivers or agencies to help them. The Jury found little guidance on shelters in County sites beyond "out-of-town friends or relatives." Step 9 of ReadySBC's Storm Readiness section, 10 Steps to Protect Yourself links the user to the FEMA site's section on Landslides & Debris Flow, which suggests "Text SHELTER + your ZIP code to 43362 (4FEMA) to find the nearest shelter in your area." The Jury did not test this advice. Family and friends may provide adequate refuge and resources for some. Others may be able to find refuge and resources from non-government organizations (NGOs) but contact lists for the NGOs are unavailable on ReadySBC. The websites of the County and other local governments do not publicize shelters of their own. Also, ReadySBC has a Video Gallery. Its videos, some of them in Spanish, show press conferences, community meetings, interviews and on-scene films, all describing aspects of the Montecito Debris Flow. There are no videos on other emergency events or topics. Public Health has an Emergency Preparedness webpage16 but most of the advice is not for the general public. There is a Sign-Up link to Aware and Prepare. This has the same effect as signing up for ReadySBC, and its users will be automatically taken there. The Public Health page does not mention ReadySBC. The link promises "emergency notifications… based on the location you care about… events that may affect your home, workplace, school and… alerts for flooding or road closures in your area (and) for multiple facility locations." These promises appear less prominently on ReadySBC, under FAQs on the sign-up page. Only one location can be entered when signing up, but after logging in the user can add more locations. The notifications may not cover emergencies other than flooding, but the Jury could not find a description of what is covered on ReadySBC except as "events." The Sheriff's website17 has an Emergency Notifications page with a Register link to ReadySBC and two videos directing users to sign up at Aware and Prepare. One of these videos also describes Nixle 15 www.chapman.edu/wilkinson/research-centers/babbie-center/survey-american-fears.aspx Click Full Survey and Methodology to download "fear-V-methodology-report-ssrs.pdf." Last visited May 25, 2020 16 www.countyofsb.org/phd/ems/epp.sbc Last visited May 25, 2020 17 www.sbsheriff.org/ Last visited May 25, 2020 2019-20 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury Page 9 and has a clear summary of how emergencies are handled; half of this summary describes activities at OEM, but the video does not appear on ReadySBC or elsewhere on the OEM website. The Santa Barbara County Fire Department's website18 has an FAQ, “How do I subscribe to emergency notifications?”, leading to ReadySBC. Its Emergency Operations page describes only its own operations teams and equipment. For the public, background information and advice on a variety of emergencies appear under Programs and Education, especially Safety Preparedness. The user needs to hover the cursor over these headings; clicking either heading gives a page with no links to the advice shown by hovering. The Preparedness Tips page of the website are for estates and rural areas, entirely about wildfires, and sometimes repetitious. It mixes long- and short-term advice, for example: "Build or re-model your home with fire resistant materials," "Leave keys in the ignition," "Turn on the lights," "Do not forget the pets." The Fire Prevention Tips page is entirely about children playing with fire. The Child Car Seat page does not mention "hot car" dangers. These examples and other parts of this website seem a work in progress and in need of updating. Early stage: decisions made on the spot Emergency actions usually begin with a 911 call from the public, a short-term weather prediction (e.g., storms or debris flows), or an urgent message from either local law enforcement or the California Highway Patrol (e.g., a major accident, an overturned vehicle with a toxic cargo, or a dangerous police action). The nearest available Sheriff's Deputies or Fire Department officers, often both, will be directed to the scene. If the emergency event is confined to the jurisdiction of a city, the city has command of the initial response. If the city has its own police department (Guadalupe, Lompoc, Santa Barbara and Santa Maria), and/or its own fire department (Carpinteria-Summerland, Guadalupe, Lompoc, Montecito, Santa Barbara and Santa Maria), the city or its department may have formal command over the initial response though this can be shared or passed to the County if the emergency persists and grows. (These lists exclude Vandenberg Air Force Base, University of California Santa Barbara's Police Department, and volunteer fire departments.) This report covers only County procedures. Links to some city emergency plans are below.19 At the scene, the most senior relevant officer (Sheriff or Fire) becomes the Incident Commander (IC). Usually the Field Supervisor for the geographic area takes over this role quickly. The IC informs the Sheriff and Fire Department leaders and may send out non-urgent informational messages using social 18 www.sbcfire.com/ Last visited May 25, 2020 19 www.cityoflompoc.com/government/departments/fire-services/disaster-preparedness/local-hazard-mitigation-plan; Last visited May 25, 2020 www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/depts/fire/oes/emergency.asp; Last visited May 25, 2020 www.cityofsantamaria.org/city-government/departments/fire-services/fire-prevention-emergency-management. Last visited May 25, 2020 2019-20 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury Page 10 media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook), a "Code 20" alerting the media of a newsworthy event by text message, and a phone message recorded on the News Line (1-805-681-5546). If there is a threat to the nearby area, the IC has the authority to call for evacuation. If the area is small, the officers present may be able to go door-to-door, possibly assisted by a loudspeaker. In other cases, depending on the time of day, type of incident and alternative possible actions, alerts can be sent by County Dispatch. The rapid individual contact methods used by Dispatch are shown in this table20: Table 1: Emergency Alerting Methods Alerting Method Limitations How to Receive Text messaging 240 characters Sign up for Alerts. Email No character limits Sign up for Alerts. Robo calls to cell phones and to Slow: delays if a long queue of Sign up for Alerts. landlines phones needing the alert Wireless Emergency Alerting 90 characters Be in the area impacted with a (WEA) WEA-capable cell phone. Emergency Alert System (EAS) 2-minute message, Volunteer Have local radio or TV turned - TV and Radio broadcasters on. Nixle Alert 138 characters Sign up for Nixle. The first three rows refer to signing up for Alerts with either ReadySBC or Aware and Prepare. An evacuation warning or order requires specification of the area to be evacuated. In the best case, the IC can define the exact boundaries. In many cases the boundaries are uncertain and the IC is too busy to choose good ones. In these cases, Dispatch officers will use past practice and what they know about the situation to determine an appropriate area as quickly as possible. If the area is not yet large, the officers can use the IC's information, their own expertise and experience, and their maps of the region to make these choices. In other cases, they may use pre-planned evacuation maps. These are described in the next section, since they are more frequently used in the later stage. Later stage: decisions made at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) If the emergency threatens to overwhelm the resources of the officers in Dispatch or on the scene, to become a multi-day incident, or to require multiple County agencies or significant County resources, control of the response is shifted to a Unified Command. This comprises senior representatives from OEM and the Sheriff's Office and Fire Department, and other agencies depending on the type of emergency. County Public Health, County Behavioral Wellness and the local Red Cross are frequent 20 santabarbara.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3715997&GUID=6CC5C72B-5CE5-4085-8A40- 98267496BD21&Options=&Search= Meeting of November 6, 2018, Attachment and Presentation of Item 18-00844. Last visited May 25, 2020 2019-20 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury Page 11 participants. The Unified Command meets at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the OEM building, where it sets up a Joint Information Center (JIC). From this point, all information from the field goes to the JIC. Messages intended for the public are re-crafted by Unified Command to ensure consistency, and then distributed by OEM. The IC and other officers on the scene, especially Public Information Officers, may continue to inform by public and social media, including live interviews. These and other updated information are often shown on CSBTV.21 Other media outlets, which reach only the residents aware that they should monitor them, include Facebook, dial 2-1-122 and almost all local radio and TV stations. If an evacuation is needed, it is usually first requested by the IC or other officers on the scene. The request is passed up the chain of command to the EOC and Unified Command. Command, with input from the JIC, confirms the validity of the request, and shares it with the JIC and any involved agencies so that all have the same information. The notification is usually sent out ("published") by OEM. In some cases, Dispatch will have re-assumed these responsibilities and will send some notifications. In these later stages, the area in danger may have grown larger and more complex. Defining the area can involve the time needed for evacuation, the roads in and out, and the likely future path of the danger. In 2012, the Montecito Fire District, where such problems are especially severe, devised a map of predesignated Evacuation Zones.23 The idea attracted County Fire, which expanded the project to the rest of the County with the participation of other in-County agencies. These maps were used for the Thomas Fire. Several factors are considered but the basic thought is to take about 60-90 minutes to evacuate each area if needed. This approach is not used in all cases but appears very valuable for large areas with difficult topography, narrow winding roads, and other difficulties.

Agency Responses 1

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.