4/29/2008

The Hamilton County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) conducted the first test ever of the county's public notification system, which includes the Reverse Notification System, commonly called Reverse 911, and the Emergency Alert System, or EAS.  This test was initiated by a simulated hazardous materials accident this morning at the Fire Training Center on Amnicola Highway.  Once the scenario called for protective measures to be initiated with the surrounding public, a test was initiated with the public notification system. 

Hamilton County's Reverse Notification System was activated at 10:30 a.m. and it appeared to work as anticipated:

- There were 1,238 phones to call in the test area around the Fire Training Center.
- The Reverse Notification System called 500 of those numbers, and successfully delivered the message to 177 locations.  This means a 35% success rate in delivering the message, which county officials said was good for 10:00 a.m. on a weekday.  Here is a breakdown on the numbers:

- 177...calls answered
- 102...calls to an answering machine
- 109...network error
- 49...phone was busy
- 14...calls went to fax machines
- 49...no answer

Reporters were initially told that the system was calling 1,238 phones.  The system calls 500 phones at a time.  When the system started calling the second batch of 500 phones, the reverse notification portion of the test ended, so the calls actually stopped at 500.

The Emergency Alert System, or EAS, had more mixed results.  The primary EAS radio station, US 101, successfully ran the test at 10:28 a.m.  Volunteers with the LEPC monitored most of the local TV and radio stations to see how well the EAS test message was distributed.  Preliminary findings show the local radio stations did not do very well.  In addition to US 101, the only other radio station that appears to have aired the test was WRXR, "Rock 105" Radio.  The other radio stations monitored did not broadcast the test message. Several stations said after the exercise that they did not receive the EAS alert from US 101.

All three network-affiliated stations said they received the test, though they were unable to participate during the exercise because of a news conference being held by President Bush.  Immediately following the president's news conference, however, Channel 3 Eyewitness News and News Channel 9 did successfully air the EAS test message.  Obviously, a closer look will be made at what happened with area radio stations.

Overall, this unique exercise was a success.  Some glitches were found in the public notification system, which is exactly why exercises like this are held.  Every effort will be made to resolve the issues that have been identified, which will make for a stronger and more effective public notification system.

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