Assessing Reverse 911®: A case study of the 2007 San Diego wildfires

Tonya T. Neaves, ABD, MPPA; Stacey C. Mann, PhD; Laura B. Myers, PhD; Arthur G. Cosby, PhD

doi:10.5055/jem.2014.0182

Authors

Tonya T. Neaves, ABD, MPPA
Stacey C. Mann, PhD
Laura B. Myers, PhD
Arthur G. Cosby, PhD

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5055/jem.2014.0182

Keywords:

Reverse 911®, warning, evacuation, wildfire, San Diego

Abstract

In October 2007, 250,000 residents of San Diego County were forced to evacuate as wildfires burned 62 miles2 in 24 hours. In 2005, the Sheriff’s Department invested in Reverse 911® to contact residents upon emergencies. The system was used during this wildfire, and by the following midday, had made 394,915 calls. Shortly thereafter, 1,210 residents were surveyed to investigate the effectiveness of this technology. Findings reveal that 42 percent of respondents received their first warning from a Reverse 911® call while an additional 7 percent received the same call, but not as their first warning, as compared to all other methods used.

Author Biographies

Tonya T. Neaves, ABD, MPPA

Department of Public and International Affairs, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.

Stacey C. Mann, PhD

Department of Emergency Management, Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, Alabama.

Laura B. Myers, PhD

Center for Advanced Public Safety, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Arthur G. Cosby, PhD

Social Science Research Center, Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi.

References

Perry RW, Lindell MK, Greene MR: The Implications of Natural Hazard Evacuation Warning Studies for Crisis Relocation Planning. Seattle,WA: Battelle Human Affairs Research Center, 1980.

Perry R, Lindell M: The effects of ethnicity on evacuation decision- making. Int J Mass Emerg Disasters. 1991; 9(1): 47-68.

Sorensen JH, Sorensen BV: Community processes: Warning and evacuation. In Rodriguez H, Quarantelli EL, Dynes R (eds.): Handbook of Disaster Research. New York, NY: Springer, 2007: 183-199.

Baker E: Hurricane evacuation behavior. Int J Mass Emerg Disasters. 1991; 9(2): 287-310.

Burnside R, DeMond M, Rivera J, et al.: The impact of information and risk perception on the hurricane evacuation decision-making of greater New Orleans residents. Sociol Spectr. 2007; 27(6): 727-740.

Quarantelli EL: Evacuation Behavior and Problems: Findings and Implications from the Research Literature. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Disaster Research Center, 1980.

Kusenbach M, Simms J, Tobin G: Disaster vulnerability and evacuation readiness: Coastal mobile home residents in Florida. Nat Hazard. 2010; 52(1): 79-95.

Gwynne S, Boswell D, Proulx G: Understanding the effectiveness of notification technologies in assisting vulnerable populations. J Fire Prot Eng. 2009; 19(1): 31-49.

Nozawa M, Watanabe T, Katada N, et al.: Residents’ awareness and behavior regarding typhoon evacuation advice in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Int Nurs Rev. 2008; 55(1); 20-26.

Sorensen JH: Hazard warning systems: Review of 20 years of progress. Nat Hazard Rev. 2000; 1(2): 119-125.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC): Review of the Emergency Alert System (FCC 04-189). 2004.Available at http://www.fcc.gov/eb/Orders/2004/FCC-04-189A1.html. Accessed March 28, 2010.

Government Accountability Office (GAO): Emergency Preparedness: Improved Planning and Coordination Necessary for Modernization and Integration of Public Alert and Warning System (GAO-09-834). 2009. Available at www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-834. Accessed March 29, 2010.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): Emergency Broadcast System (EAS) Fact Sheet. 2009. Available at www.fema.gov/pdf/media/factsheets/2009/ncp_eas.pdf - 2009-05-14. Accessed March 28, 2010.

Kalkstein L, Jamason P: The Philadelphia hot weather-health watch/warning system: Development and application, summer 1995. Bull Am Meteorol Soc. 1996; 77(7): 1519-1528.

Leinwand D: Tsunami alerts help save lives. USA Today. May 1, 2010.

Krier R: Santa Ana weather stokes fire worries; conditions will be similar to those before ’03 blazes. The San Diego Union-Tribune. October 20, 2007.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): EPA invests $8 million to secure San Francisco’s drinking water supply. Water Online. May 12, 2008.

Moses AL: Alachua County adopts new emergency notification system. Alligator. February 25, 2010.

Hoffman A, Flaccus G: Fires displace nearly 250,000 near San Diego; ‘a lot of people are going to lose their homes’. The Associated Press. October 22, 2007.

Shapley D: California wildfires: 500,000 evacuated and death toll rises. The Daily Green. October 24, 2007.

Repard P, Steele J, Lisa P: Thousands begin returning to homes. San Diego Union-Tribune. October 23, 2007.

Parrish M: Automated phone system warns San Diego. The New York Times. October 24, 2007.

McCarter M: The QHSR and the quest for resilience. Homeland Secur Today. 2010; 7(4): 14-15.

Blanchard BW: Top 10 Competencies for Professional Emergency Management. FEMA Emergency Management Institute. 2005. Available at http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/EMCompetencies.asp. Accessed February 20, 2010.

Sutton J, Palen, L, Shklovski I: Backchannels on the front lines: Emergent uses of social media in the 2007 southern California Wildfires. Presented at the Proceedings of the 5th International Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, Washington, DC, May 2008.

Strawderman L, Salehi A, Babski-Reeves K, et al.: Reverse 911 as a complementary evacuation warning system. Nat Hazard Rev. 2012; 13(1): 65-73.