Other homeowners in San Diego's Rancho Bernardo neighborhood are telling similar stories of computerized warning calls that came too late or not at all. They were woken up by neighbors, the screech of fire engines or by the sound of embers pattering against windowpanes like raindrops.
In the aftermath of this fall's devastating wildfires in Southern California, San Diego's "reverse 911" system was widely hailed for helping to mobilize the biggest evacuation in state history. But the disaster also exposed serious flaws that can render such systems useless in emergencies.
Among other things, calls won't get through in some households if phone lines are down, the power is out, the circuits are overloaded, or people have call-blocking activated. Even if none of those glitches gets in the way, it can take hours for these systems to plow through lists of phone numbers.
Now, some residents are calling for low-tech backup warnings like sirens and bullhorns. [How about a little personal responsibility? Nah... --ed]
"The fact is, we were sitting ducks," said Levine, 43, who fled with her husband and children in bumper-to-bumper traffic, embers whipping overhead. "Our neighborhood was burning and we didn't know it." [Well, then, you're a dumbass. -- ed.]
It is not clear exactly how many of thousands of people who were directly in the fire's path that night didn't get warnings.
City officials acknowledged that whole neighborhoods didn't start receiving calls until the flames were upon them.
The city system, activated in September, was used along with San Diego County's older telephone-notification setup to help evacuate more than a half-million people. No one got caught by the fires as they left their homes _ a dramatic change from 2003, when seven people in the county burned to death in their cars as they tried to flee. [WTF? Sat in their cars and burned to death? Darwin Award Candidates... -- ed.]
All together, the Southern California fires destroyed more than 2,000 homes and killed 10 people as they blackened some 800 square miles. [In an area know to be prone to fast moving wildfires. Sheesh. I live on the Texas coast. Am I surprised when a hurricane shows up? Do I expect the government to babysit me during the approach? Nein! It's up to ME to pay attention to WTF is going on, and make plans accordingly. -- ed.]
Unbelievable. Liberal Nanny-State effing morons.
