San Mateo County - County must implement improved disaster response

San Bruno Patch/Martin Ricard, 4/24/12.  "County Emergency Services Need improvement, Report says." 

A San Mateo County grand jury report has found that the county Office of Emergency Services is still not ready to properly handle a disaster nearly two years after the 2010 pipeline explosion in San Bruno.

"We're getting out of here."

During the explosion, the jury assembly room in the basement of the Redwood City Hall of Justice was used to coordinate the county’s response to San Bruno. But the fact that hundreds of people use the room, cell phone reception is spotty and electronic equipment is antiquated means that it would not be adequate to serve as an emergency operation center if another disaster struck, the grand jury concluded.

“In a county of nearly 750,000 citizens, located in a recognized earthquake zone, large-scale emergencies require a fully-equipped coordination site for emergency services,” the report said.  Read Article.

Reference - Grand Jury Report, 19 pages. "San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services:  Post-San Bruno Fire Self-Evaluation."   Issue - "As a result of the natural gas pipeline explosion on September 9, 2010 in San Bruno, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services (OES) filed an After Action/Corrective Action Report reviewing its performance with the State of California.  Did OES (1) effectively record all areas for improvement; (2) implement the solutions identified in the report (3) meet the estimated completion dates; and (4) utilize the report as a tood to identify areas for improvement, establish accountability, and ensure follow-up?  What other improvements to the Office of Emergency Services are necessary?"   Multiple findings, corrective actions status as of January 2012 are mostly not met or are incomplete. See pdf page 8.

Related articles -  Silicon Valley Mercury News/Aaron Kinney,  4/24/12.  "Grand jury report criticizes San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services."Read Article, And, The Daily Journal/Michelle Durand, 4/24/12. "Grand Jury knocks post-fire emergency response."  Read Article.

Posted by Kathy Meeh