(Dec. 24, 2008) -- When LBPD found explosive materials at a home in the 3200 block of San Anseline Ave., it evacuated homes close to the property, and before safely detonating the materials at about 3:00 a.m. Sunday (Dec. 21), LBPD used the City's "Reverse 9-1-1" system to call people outside the evacuation area (in the surrounding neighborhood) to advise them that a controlled detonation would take place and they might hear a noise.
People in the immediate area had already been personally evacuated by police to ensure no one was in danger, but residents outside the evacuation zone but fairly nearby told LBReport.com that their phones rang at about 2 a.m. and they heard no message.
On Monday morning Dec. 22, we asked City Hall's Public Information Officer about this, who communicated the issue to City Hall personnel. Their challenge: find out if what our readers reported had happened...then figure out why it happened, and then figure out how to fix the problem so it shouldn't happen again.
By the end of Tuesday's business day (Dec. 23), city management indicated city personnel had confirmed the issue, diagnosed it, made changes and believe it's now fixed. However, there will be tests -- with Reverse 911 outgoing phone calls -- in coming days and weeks in that part of LB, and others, to double-check.
Deputy City Manager Reggie Harrison said that since the Reverse 911 system was implemented in September 2006, it's been used successfully a handful times and worked fine in tests. However in this particular incident (2 a.m.-3 a.m.), an issue turned up.
During after-midnight/pre-dawn hours, City Hall routinely does a number of back-ups on its computer system...and the reverse 911 system is part of that system. The ELB incident coincided with that back-up...and the interface issue has now been isolated, separated and City Hall's computer experts believe the problem has been solved.
Just the same, city management indicates there'll be random testing, likely in that area and probably other parts of town over the coming days and weeks, to make sure that the issue has been solved and shouldn't recur.
Deputy City Manager Harrison notes that Reverse 911 is a valuable tool in the event of an emergency, and just one of a number of communication methods which the City uses.
And Mr. Harrison adds this important caveat: the Reverse 911 system is designed to automatically contact Verizon standard hard-wired phones BUT it only contacts cellular phones [and we checked, also VoiceOverInternet (VOIP) phones] IF they're specifically entered in the Reverse 911 system.
That means, if you use a cellular phone or a VoiceOverInternet (VOIP) phone and if you want to receive Reverse 911 calls, you must first register that number with the Reverse 911 system...and you can do this online right now.
Click here and then follow the directions.
And...LBReport.com is interested in knowing if you receive any test calls of the Reverse 911 system in your part of town. Let us know at: mail@LBReport.com.
