As fires consumed the North Bay last fall, it became clear that California’s emergency response system was ill-equipped to handle calamities of such magnitude. KQED has conducted a five month long investigation into what caused the muddled communication and delayed evacuations. We’ll discuss KQED’s findings, shortcomings of current disaster response protocol and potential solutions. And we’ll hear about a recent California Office of Emergency Services report stating that Sonoma County’s technical alert systems were poorly coordinated and lacked “situational awareness.”
Guests:
Marisa Lagos, reporter, KQED’s California Politics and Government Desk
Sukey Lewis, reporter, KQED
James Gore, chair of the board of supervisors, Sonoma County
Jason Meek, survivor of the North Bay fires