Assessing Reverse 911®: A case study of the 2007 San Diego wildfires

Abstract

In October 2007, 250,000 residents of San Diego County were forced to evacuate as wildfires burned 62 miles(2) in 24 hours. In 2005, the Sheriff's Department invested in Reverse 911® to contact residents upon emergencies. The system was used during this wildfire, and by the following midday, had made 394,915 calls. Shortly thereafter, 1,210 residents were surveyed to investigate the effectiveness of this technology. Findings reveal that 42 percent of respondents received their first warning from a Reverse 911® call while an additional 7 percent received the same call, but not as their first warning, as compared to all other methods used.

Efficacy of Communication Techniques and Health Outcomes of Bushfire Smoke Exposure: A Scoping Review

“…Forty papers were found that provided information pertinent to communication and public action during natural disasters. Twenty-one publications relate to the origin and media form, with thirteen providing information on traditional media [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], eleven on nontraditional sources [10,11,15,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27], and seven on choice of media [9][10][11]15,18,28,29]. Five articles provided information on smoke avoidance behaviours [19,20,22,25,30,31].…”

“…During disasters, social media platforms have been found to dominate disaster communication channels with content such as warnings, imagery, help requests, health communication, coordination of aid relief, and communication of safety status [15]. When alerting communities of the need to evacuate, most reports came through telephone calls, with other media forms including television, radio, door-to-door knocks, and wordof-mouth [10,28]. Reverse emergency calls were found to be useful in the United States of America as emergency organisations were able to contact residents who may be in danger more directly [28].…”

“…When alerting communities of the need to evacuate, most reports came through telephone calls, with other media forms including television, radio, door-to-door knocks, and wordof-mouth [10,28]. Reverse emergency calls were found to be useful in the United States of America as emergency organisations were able to contact residents who may be in danger more directly [28]. Conversely, individuals tend to receive reports from television, radio, or social media when it is safe to return to their residences and when learning of property destruction [10,28].…”

“…Reverse emergency calls were found to be useful in the United States of America as emergency organisations were able to contact residents who may be in danger more directly [28]. Conversely, individuals tend to receive reports from television, radio, or social media when it is safe to return to their residences and when learning of property destruction [10,28]. Newspapers tend to become more relevant and popular as disasters progress as they allow for more in-depth analytic coverage [18].…”

“…Despite the rise of social media platforms in recent years, there is still high utilisation of traditional media forms (especially radio); highlighting the importance of continuing to use traditional media alongside non-traditional sources in future, to ensure that all aspects of the community are catered for [16]. Different media are also utilised at different stages of natural disasters, indicating the importance of tailoring methods of information delivery to each individual disaster as they progress to their conclusion [10,15,18,28]. Particular emphasis was placed on providing information before a disaster occurs [15,18,33,36].…”