Cranston Fire emergency messaging system didn’t work first day
The Wireless Emergency Alert messaging system was down on July 25, the first day of the Cranston Fire, preventing some evacuated residents from receiving critical evacuation information.
It wasn’t working due to a technical problem, according to Bruce Barton, an official with Riverside County. The Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system targets cell phone towers and does not require registration.
“I didn’t get anything, and I have an iPhone,” said Kay Thomas, an evacuated Idyllwild resident. “I didn’t get any emergency alerts or anything and my phone is set up for that.”
Thomas got her evacuation information from her son, who had to go into town to find out what was happening.
This map shows the evacuation area of the Cranston Fire.
Other residents said they got word of the evacuation orders without using a phone.
“(Sheriffs) were driving every street they were issuing mandatory evacuations,” said Greg Schoenleber, who doesn’t have a cell phone. “I believe the manner in which they handled it was excellent – there was no mistake on their loudspeaker.”
Even with the WEA system out of order, other phone alerts were going out. Riverside County officials said more than 6,300 ‘Alert Rivco’ voice messages went out over the course of the fire. More than half of them went unanswered.
Barton said the WEA alerts are just one way to get information.
“It’s one tool in that toolbox. There were door to door notifications done by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, there is messaging that we put out through the traditional media outlets including press releases, social media, he said. “We can’t just rely on one source – it’s multifaceted. … We’ll always be looking for ways to improve and make it better but it will not ever be 100 percent.”
Residents said they are still concerned about evacuating early in an emergency, and said those critical moments are the ones that matter.
“It should have been on our phone and it shouldn’t have been broken that day — it put us behind,” said Alicia Barry
Officials said they immediately worked to troubleshoot and resolve the problem. The following day, July 26, WEA alerts were working.
You can register for Alert Rivco emergency notifications by clicking here.
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