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HomeMy WebLinkAbout204.014 - Notification of Public in Event of Public Hazard STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES COMMUNICATIONS 204.014 NOTIFICATION OF PUBLIC IN EVENT OF PUBLIC HAZARD EFFECTIVE: MARCH 2014 Current Revision Date: 09/27/2019 Next Revision Date: 09/27/22 Author’s Name/Rank: Bradley J Dandridge, Battalion Chief Review Level: 1 Administrative Support: Tammy Williams, Management Analyst II Section 204.014 Page 1 of 4 PURPOSE This procedure is intended to provide the incident commander (IC) with information to initiate notification of the public in the event of a hazardous situation. This policy is to ensure the correct and appropriate information and direction is relayed to citizens who may be in the affected area. APPLICATION The following are situations, which may require use of the Public Emergency/Hazard Notification Procedure. • Fire. • Hazardous material spill or release. • Environmental hazard. The method chosen for alert of the public to a hazard should be based on the best available choice to contact the target audience. The methods considered should begin with the most basic required to reach the target audience, i.e., door to door, and progress to the method which have the desired results within the necessary time frame. OPERATIONAL POLICY This section intentionally left blank. OPERATIONAL GUIDELINE The message should be brief and comprehensive, providing clear information about the situation and clear direction to the recipient. Section 204.014 Page 2 of 4 Areas to Cover when Creating a Message: • What is the hazard? • Where is the hazard? • Who is affected? • What actions should be taken? • When should those actions occur? The City Emergency Hotline (621-2489) should be included in the message to allow the public to stay informed about conditions and updates. PROCESS 1. The IC should advise the Communications Center of the need to make public notification of a hazardous condition. The IC is to advise Communications of the method(s) to be utilized and request the resources needed to accomplish the task. 2. Communications Center should notify the Department duty officer and emergency preparedness officer (EPO.) The EPO should contact the City of Fresno Public Affairs officer (PAO). 3. The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office should be notified if the method(s) are to include the Emergency Alert System (EAS). 4. The IC should prepare a message to provide the necessary information to the public. 5. The following methods should be considered for emergency notification of the public. The City PAO should coordinate dissemination when flyers, TV/radio media, or the EAS are utilized. a. Canvassing (utilize police, CERT, and Red Cross units to assist). b. Flyers (utilize police, Fire AmeriCorps, FireCorps volunteers, Red Cross, and City PAO to assist). c. TV/radio (utilize City PAO and Fire Department PIO). d. Emergency Alert System (Utilize City PAO). Section 204.014 Page 3 of 4 Activating and Transmitting a Local Broadcast Over the Emergency Alert System (EAS) for the Department. Emergency Incidents: • Hazardous materials spill or release (large scale). • Fire (long-term incident). • Environmental hazard (long-term incident). The following format is utilized by the San Joaquin Valley FCC Local Area County Governments. The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is configured in such a way that local programming radio stations (LP), local government, or the National Weather Service (NWS) can initiate an EAS warning message for the broadcast media and cable television outlets in the San Joaquin Valley FCC Local Area. Designate an official (duty officer, IC, EPO, PIO, PAO) to use the following format and activate the EAS: “This is (name/title) of (organization). I request the Emergency Alert System to be activated because of a (description of the emergency).” 1. Hazardous materials spill or release (large scale). “There is currently a hazardous materials incident at (location). The Fire Department is on scene and requesting citizens to avoid the areas of (give cross street locations). For further information call (phone number). 2. Fire (long-term incident). “There is currently a (describe type of incident) at (location). This heavy smoke condition is the result of a (briefly describe type of fire). The Fire Department is on scene and requesting citizens to avoid the areas of (give cross street location). For further information call (phone number). 3. Environmental hazard. “The City of Fresno would like to warn citizens of the (describe the environmental hazard) problem in the area of (location). Citizens are encouraged to avoid the areas of (give cross street location). For further information (i.e., shelter in place, shut down, HVAC, etc.) call (phone number) or visit the website at www.fresno.gov/prepare/shelterplace.pdf. Section 204.014 Page 4 of 4 INFORMATION This section intentionally left blank. DEFINITIONS This section intentionally left blank. CROSS-REFERENCES This section intentionally left blank.