Emergency Alerts and Communications*

Due to the topography within Sonoma County, the re-institution of audible alarms such as air-raid sirens could dependably reach residents in remote areas and work as a reliable tried-and-true alarm system. The Board of Supervisors disagree partially with this finding. In 2018, the Board of Supervisors directed the Department of Emergency Management to explore the potential for development of a network of outdoor audible warning sirens. The Department assessed best practices, siren technologies, systems limitations, vendor products, deployment strategies, initial/ongoing program costs as well as participating in field tests in Sonoma County. The Department of Emergency Services determined that the effectiveness of outdoor sirens may be compromised by terrain, vegetation, urban development, and ability to be heard inside buildings.1 Additionally modern building construction – including dual and triple-paned windows makes hearing these sirens very difficult - this effect has been seen in recent community evacuation drills in which vehicle-mounted Hi-Lo sirens were used. Staff will continue to assess the long-term potential for use of outdoor sirens in very specific hazard areas (ex. tsunami inundation zones).

The County communication network is at risk of communication tower/repeater equipment loss through delayed maintenance and failure to update obsolescent equipment, or disaster loss affecting the Sheriff's Department, city, police, fire agencies, and Redwood Empire Dispatch Communications. The Board of Supervisors disagree partially with this finding Sonoma County's Telecommunications radio-communications system is maintained by the Sheriff's Office Telecommunications Bureau (T-Comm). We understand that T-Comm has not delayed maintenance and therefore do not agree that the system is at risk due to aged equipment.

There is no backup system for the County communication towers/repeaters or for commercial cellular towers should they fail to function. The Board of Supervisors disagree partially with this finding. The County communications towers are maintained by Sheriff's Office and include a robust series of backups, in the event of primary power loss. All county communications towers maintained by the Sheriff's office have backup generators with enough fuel to power the tower for at least 10 days in addition to battery backup systems. In regard to commercial cellular towers, the County, through a joint effort with other local governments, was successful in 2020 in petitioning the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to require that telecommunications providers provide state and local emergency responders with information directly about the areas that have lost, or may lose, service due to the impacted infrastructure and requiring that outage maps be posted on public-facing websites. CPUC Decision 21-02-0292 requires 72-hours backup power for wireless providers in Tier 2 and Tier 3 High Fire Threat Districts - except for those 1 https://www.midstatecomm.com/PDF/FEMA_guide.pdf ² https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M366/K625/366625041.PDF facilities which the providers identify in their resiliency plans that don't need backup or are impossible to provide backup. Per the CPUC map of areas that do not have sufficient backup, there are relatively few in Sonoma County that are at risk from power failure. Vulnerable areas are in dark blue on the CPUC map here: https://capuc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=4ffc5f03a0e14f22a28e4f14aca2032 7 However, without real-time system status reporting, we don't know if this is really what will occur during a major event. Per CPUC Rulings 18-03-0113, 18-03-0114, and Decision 21-02-0295, the County of Sonoma has received emergency plans from wireless (U.S Cellular, Verizon, AT&T, TMobile) and wireline communications providers (Comcast, AT&T). The wireless broadband providers have made some progress in developing backup power for key sites but the overall status of this effort is not known.

The County communication towers/repeaters and cellular provider towers are not maintained and protected (including defensible space) sufficiently to ensure alerts and warnings can go out in the event of a disaster. The Board of Supervisors disagree partially with this finding. Sonoma County's Telecommunications radio-communications system is maintained and protected by the Sheriff's Office to ensure alerts and warnings go out during disaster. The County of Sonoma cannot respond to maintenance levels of the commercial cellular provider's infrastructure, equipment or systems.

The Board of Supervisors has not fulfilled its commitment to update the 2014 Emergency Operations Plan by 2018-2019. This commitment was made in response to a Recommendation by the 2017-2018 Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury. The Board of Supervisors disagree partially with this finding. While the overall plan has not been completely updated, this finding does not take into account the broad range of emergency planning products developed that directly augment the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP). These products include annexes to the EOP such as Alert & Warning, Evacuation, Pandemic, Extreme Heat, and Public Safety Power Shutoffs (which has been revised twice). Also, as noted in the Grand Jury report, the County has experienced an extraordinary number and variety of emergency incidents and events in the last several years. These events have forced staff to spend their time and efforts addressing immediate response and recovery missions - which has come at the expense of resources that would have gone into developing a new EOP. As the last 8 months has not required significant emergency response efforts, staff have been able to make good progress on the new EOP which will be the first in California to incorporate a new state requirement to integrate cultural competency and equity considerations. https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M328/K685/328685793.PDF 4 https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M343/K633/343633733.PDF https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M366/K625/366625041.PDF

Recommendations documented in After Action Reports following a disaster have not been incorporated into the current Emergency Operations Plans for Sonoma County Department of Emergency Management, the Sheriff's Office, Cities, and fire agencies. The Board of Supervisors disagree with this finding. Since 2017, the County has developed several after action reports for wildfire, flood and power shut off incidents. Recommendations and actions from these AARs are a key element of ongoing improvements and program development. The AAR addressing the County's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the 2017 Fires has directly led to changes in organization and procedure. A key recommendation was to develop a new EOC facility which has now been incorporated into the County's Strategic Plan and Capital Improvement Plan. Of course, not all the improvements can be immediately implemented – especially as the historic number and scope of recent incidents has necessarily prioritized response efforts over preparedness. That said, significant progress in implementing many AAR recommendations has been made in the last three years. AARs provide critical input as new plans are developed, new training offered, and new equipment purchased. By way of example, recommendations made in the Alert & Warning AARs developed following the 2018 and 2019 warning exercises, the 2019 Kincade Fire and PSPS events, and the 2020 LNU and Glass Wildfires have been incorporated into the new Alert & Warning Annex and the larger warning program. The County's new Emergency Operations Plan, which is expected to be approved by the Board of Supervisors in early 2022, further incorporate many other recommendations made in AARs as do the Annexes for Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) and Evacuation which have already been approved by the Board of Supervisors. Required Response to Recommendations