Residents were left in the dark, officials concede
Published 7:00 pm Friday, January 19, 2007
Public information systems failed during the December storm, outage.
Updated at 4:45 p.m.
Even as December skies darkened over Bainbridge, the wheels of the local emergency management machine were in motion.
Everyone knew the Dec. 14 storm was coming.
Truckloads of new power poles were being fashioned to replace those that would succumb to approaching winds. Extra line crews were already in place. Responders from the city and county were ready to, well, respond.
As expected, wind whipped, trees toppled, electricity vanished. Then people in meat-locker-cold homes spent days wondering when life would return to normal.
So what happened?
The problem, officials said Thursday, wasn’t in the response. It was in getting information to the public.
“I didn’t underestimate the storm,” said Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management Director Phyllis Mann, seated behind a table overlooking local leaders. “I underestimated you, the community. You are prepared. Now you want information.”
And answers, which is why representatives from the city, Kitsap County, Puget Sound Energy, Bainbridge schools, the American Red Cross and several groups that serve seniors and other vulnerable members of the community gathered at the Phelps Road fire station to scrutinize the storm response and discuss ways to better prepare for future emergencies.
The city this week filled its biggest void in that department when the City Council approved $65,000 in funding for an emergency preparedness consultant, a position that had previously been stricken from the preliminary 2007 budget.
Whoever fills the role will spend the next year working with police, firefighters and community members to develop new emergency procedures.
Other changes are likely coming as well, including a new, countywide alert system, and enough supplies for a 300-person shelter on the island.
Also planned is the rewiring of the stoplight at the intersection of State Route 305 and Suquamish Way – the focus of massive traffic queues when the power went out – so it will run off the generator at the neighboring casino.
City officials said communication between fire and police went well, but communication with the public could have been better. Fliers were passed out by police – an idea lauded by many in attendance Thursday – and emergency messages greeted callers to City Hall, though not until several days after the storm.
The lack of a generator at the Bainbridge police station also was cited as a weakness.
Mann said the county DEM was well prepared, having already catalogued the locations of vulnerable residents and generators in many areas of the county. But like the city, things broke down when it came to communication.
Radio stations kept people on the other side of Puget Sound informed, she said, but largely ignored the problems of Kitsap County.
New systems
To bridge the gap in information, the county hopes to install new software that would allow Kitsap residents to sign up to receive emergency alerts, deliverable to cell phones, land lines, email or pagers. The county is also studying the viability and cost of an emergency FM radio system.
Despite being prepared, Mann acknowledged things weren’t perfect.
Though many private homeowners and organizations have generators, the switch by some to propane caused problems for county refilling trucks, which are only equipped with diesel.
That meant emergency management teams were unable to refuel generators.
Linda Streissguth of Puget Sound Energy said the company was prepared for the storm. They pre-ordered materials like power poles, and sent warnings to customers through the media.
What they weren’t prepared for was the extent of the damage, which lengthened call response times and hampered communication throughout their system.
“This is the largest damage we’ve experienced in over 100 years of history as a company,” Streissguth said.
In all, 700,000 PSE customers lost power, including 9,000 on Bainbridge. For some, the outage lasted a week or more.
That led to questions about the role of shelters, both in the wake of the Dec. 14 storm and for future emergencies.
Four days after the storm, the American Red Cross opened a shelter at St. Cecilia Church, where islanders could find food and warmth – but not overnight accommodations.
A representative from a local hotel said she took in several people whose homes were damaged by trees. Mann said accommodations could have been arranged had she known about that situation.
Still, she said, most prefer to stick it out at home, especially on Bainbridge, where people are generally better prepared than residents elsewhere in the county. DEM surveys, conducted every two years, have shown that 40 percent of residents in the north end of the county have enough emergency supplies for at least three days. That number is even higher on Bainbridge. Countywide, only nine people took advantage of overnight shelters.
“That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done,” Mann said, of opening the shelters.
Though many islanders are prepared, the city’s main goal is to continue educating the public about ways to be more self-sufficient. Water, non-perishable food, blankets, batteries, flashlights and an analog phone should all be on hand, since supplies following a disaster are scarce.
So are police, said Bainbridge Deputy Chief Mark Duncan, noting that the force has only one officer for every 1,000 islanders.
Police have divided the island into nine sectors to allow for a more detailed accounting of strengths and weaknesses within those areas. They also plan to identify vulnerable residents and potential resources, like doctors and generators.
Should the bridge go down in a natural disaster, Mann said supplies and generators could be floated in, though the Red Cross and the fire department already have some supplies on the island.
But most agreed the biggest goal is keeping people connected and informed.
“People look to City Hall, city phones and city people,” said City Administrator Mary Jo Briggs. “We need to better live up to that.”
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Patching it up
Officials at Thursday’s meeting identified several ways to improve the island’s emergency preparedness plan.
Communication was cited as the main weakness. Under consideration is a new alert system that would keep county residents informed during an emergency. The city is working to establish information distribution points. Puget Sound Energy, still conducting internal reviews, pledged to improve communication with customers and the media.
Police still won’t direct traffic at darkened intersections, but plans are in the works to wire the stoplight at 305/Suquamish Way to the generator at the neighboring casino. Both the police and fire departments will work with the new emergency preparedness consultant to educate the public about how to be more prepared. The American Red Cross will soon be able to outfit a 300-person shelter on the island.
– Chad Schuster
