MALIBU—In the event of a long-term power outage, the city of Malibu has set up an emergency information station program to distribute public information. The Points of Distribution (POD) locations of the will be announced once they are finalized.
According to a press release from the city of Malibu, following the Woolsey Fire in November 2018, Malibu’s Public Safety Staff and Community Emergency Response Team members have evaluated the city’s emergency supply bins – where community members can obtain basic emergency supplies – and have restocked them as part of the community-wide emergency preparedness effort.
“Electronic communications have given us many powerful tools, but society’s ever-increasing dependence on them has also created vulnerabilities, so we need to have practical, low-tech solutions that will work without electricity, computers and cell phones,” said Mayor Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner. “We can’t anticipate every challenge in a disaster, but we already know about the problems that power and cell phone outages pose and we are working on strategies to address them.”
The emergency information stations, brought up by the City Manager and Public Safety Manager are being set up in order to develop capabilities to the community in case of any disaster which could potentially cause an electricity and cell phone service outage, as occurred during the Woolsey Fire.
This plan of action may be needed if Southern California Edison implements their Public Safety Power Shutoff Plan meant to prevent power lines from sparking wildfires.
PSPS’ program grants SCE to cut off power in high fire-risk areas – such as Malibu – during
extremely hazardous fire conditions. City officials have objected to the PSPS plan, but have stated the likelihood of its implementation at some point during fire season.
CERT team leaders and Malibu City staff trained other CERT volunteers on procedures and protocols for the arrangement of a POD with an emergency information station.
The bins will include accessories such as bullhorns, pop-up tents, “Disaster Information” signage, and bulletin boards for displaying printed material. During a long-term power outage, printed public information will be brought out to the boards one or more times a day.
As part of National Preparedness Month, the city of Malibu and the CERT team will conduct a public demonstration of the PODs with the emergency information station as a drill for the Team and raise community awareness of the system on September 14.
To sign up for the city’s disaster and evacuation alerts through Everbridge, visit www.MalibuCity.org/DisasterNotifications.
