Sheriffs Office Says Community Warning System Functioned Properly During Richmond Fire

The Contra Costa County Sheriffs office say the Community Warning System worked as it was supposed to yesterday during a shelter in place in the City of Richmond.

The system came into question after Richmond Mayor was quoted by ABC7 saying:

“I literally couldn’t breathe,” said Richmond Mayor Tom Butt, who complained he was choking on the smoke long before he received an emergency alert on his cell phone. “This whole warning system thing is an absolute total joke. It’s been around now for about 25 years. It’s never worked, not one time.”

The sheriffs office provided a timeline of the alerts that went out. Residents can sign up by clicking here.

Here is a copy of the Statement released by the Sheriffs office:

The mission of the Community Warning System (CWS) is to ensure the public gets emergency alerts as quickly and completely as possible once we receive the proper information from the requesting agency. CWS is not an internal notification system for a city or affected jurisdictions.

In regards to yesterday’s fire at a metal shop in Richmond, CWS received all of the necessary information from Richmond Fire for an alert at 5:55 PM. There was no request to activate the sirens. The first alert was sent at 6:08 PM through the Telephone Emergency Notification System (TENS), which includes phone, text, and email alerts. It is also posted on social media and websites.

As the fire continued to burn and produce smoke, and due to a shift in winds, the shelter-in-place needed to be expanded. CWS worked to get updates to additional shelter-in-place areas as they were requested by Richmond Fire and Contra Costa Hazardous Materials Program.

The second alert went out at 6:44 PM, the third alert went out at 7:57 PM, and the last one went out at 8:50 PM. These alerts went to expanded areas at the request of Richmond Fire and the Contra Costa Hazardous Materials Program.

After the situation became somewhat stabilized and it was believed no additional shelter-in-place areas would be needed, a comprehensive map was created that included all affected areas and was posted in on our website and Facebook page and sent directly to the media.

“In yesterday’s incident, the CWS worked as designed — alerts were sent once all the information was received from the requesting agency,” said Assistant Sheriff Mark Williams. “Mayor Butt’s statement that it took an hour to get out the first alert after receiving the necessary information from Richmond Fire is totally inaccurate, misleading, and presumptuous.”

CWS continually reviews it system and procedures in an effort to improve delivery of alerts. CWS encourages all county residents to receive alerts by registering at www.cococws.us and to follow CWS on Twitter and Facebook at CoCoCWS.