Emergency alerts need improvement to serve everyone | Opinion
Storms, quakes and eruptions are unpredictable things. This month’s storms made that clear, as Pierce County’s complex river systems threatened sudden flooding and mudslides. High winds added to the chaos with power outages.
In fast-changing conditions, local agencies had to get information to residents quickly. They relied on a patchwork of emergency alert systems, social media accounts, and door-to-door efforts. They told people to prepare to leave, and ultimately evacuated some neighborhoods.
In ad hoc command centers in city halls and county facilities, officials have worked around the clock deciding whom to notify and when. Those aren’t simple questions, and it has to be said that agencies met the challenge with the tools at hand. Many people worked long hours making this happen.
Still, some residents voiced confusion, frustration and straight up exhaustion when trying to decide whether to evacuate, not to mention where they should go. Some contended with disabilities that made those decisions more complicated. Others just wanted more context, an update for their neighborhood, or to make sure a vulnerable group was getting the help they need.
On top of that, signing up for the admittedly robust emergency alert services available in this county is not as simple as it should be. Services overlap, which creates a patchwork system.
It’s still incumbent on community members to sign up for those alerts, which not enough people have done. But it needs to be as easy as possible, and there’s room for improvement.
The many ways to get emergency alerts
The county can issue immediate evacuation orders to cell phones based on location, much like an Amber Alert.
But local agencies also try to give residents time to get ready to leave their homes. Many use a Ready, Set, Go framework. In essence, “Ready” means pack your bag and “Set” means put the bag in the car. “Go” means… well, get out of there.
To get those warnings, residents need to opt into third party emergency alert services. For example, Orting residents can sign up for emergency alerts through a platform called Genasys.
But there’s often more than one to choose from.
You can also receive notifications through Pierce County ALERT, a program run through Everbridge, another platform. Those alerts go out to residents of unincorporated parts of the county, and sometimes at the request of fire districts or cities, county officials told me.
During the recent storms, the county sent out alerts through Pierce County ALERT on behalf of the City of Sumner. Sumner’s previous alert service, CodeRED, suffered a cybersecurity attack in November, prompting the city to drop the service.
Carmen Palmer, communications director for the city of Sumner, traded 12-hour shifts with a co-worker in the City Council chambers to keep information flowing to residents. She said it’s a tricky question whether emergency alerts should be opt-in.
There’s no doubt the information is vital, but many residents are fatigued from businesses opting them into marketing texts and emails. She assured me that residents’ phone numbers aren’t for sale and won’t get spammed.
I signed up for Pierce County ALERT to test the process for myself. I didn’t love the experience. I had to enter codes sent to my phone and email three times total, and enter the same information multiple times before I could finish registering. Also, I understand why having my name would be useful, but should it be required?
I’m being picky. But I really believe every layer of frustration in signing up for a service like this could deter people from finishing the process. Right now, the service has nearly 72,000 subscribers, which is a small portion of the county’s nearly 1 million residents. I’m glad I signed up for the alerts, and I would encourage anyone who hasn’t yet to set aside some time to get through the process.
Social media a source of further information
Local agencies also sync up emergency alerts with their social media accounts. This gives residents more ways to get updates. It also gives them a place to ask for more information.
The comments under a Facebook post from Central Pierce Fire & Rescue ordering an evacuation show just how much more information people want. Several commenters asked for maps or more context on which streets the evacuation order applied to.
Others asked for updates on other neighborhoods or vulnerable groups, like a skilled nursing facility for veterans and their families. Mixed in were comments reminding people to grab pets but leave possessions behind, and pleas to specific family members to send updates.
Those aren’t all messages that local agencies can help with, especially with staff spread thin. Palmer said they had a second staff person looking at comments on Sumner’s social media updates. It was a good way to find out what additional information people needed, she said.
“People are scared,” she said. “People are wanting that connection, to be heard.”
What Orting resident Erica Driggers wanted to know was whether she could take her kids to an emergency shelter. She lives between the Carbon and Puyallup Rivers, and her six-year-old son has complex medical needs. He must travel with multiple life-sustaining devices that use batteries. He also has special toileting needs.
While she ultimately ended up in a hotel, Driggers would have liked information on whether shelters could accommodate her son to be front and center.
Orting police chief Devon Gabreluk sent alerts through Genasys from the city’s Emergency Operations Center. He told me that residents with disabilities can contact the center directly to flag their needs and get personalized information.
That seems like a great start, but I think Driggers has a point. There need to be fewer steps for people with disabilities and caregivers to find the information they need.
“It’s really taxing for families in our situation, because we’re already in that fight or flight all the time,” Driggers said. “We’re already tired.”
