For years now, Campus Safety has emphasized the critical nature of emergency notification systems. Whether the threat is an active shooter, a hazardous materials incident, or severe weather, rapid alerts allow the public to take necessary protective steps. Yet, we rarely discuss the importance of the “all-clear” — the message confirming that the danger has passed and normal routines can resume.
I recently experienced the consequences of a neglected all-clear protocol.
A Real-World Example of a Failed All-Clear Notification
Living near the Port of Los Angeles, I witnessed the aftermath of a cargo ship fire on Friday, November 21. Just after midnight, local authorities issued a shelter-in-place order via the county’s emergency notification text messaging system for the surrounding area due to hazardous air quality. The alert was sent nearly six hours after the fire started, and the significant delay received a lot of criticism, which you can read about here.
To mitigate the Hazmat risk, authorities towed the ship out to sea, and the order was officially lifted at around 6:30 a.m. the next morning.
Related Article: False Los Angeles Wildfire Evacuation Warnings Spark Panic
However, a text confirming it was safe to go outdoors was not sent until 8:59 p.m. on Sunday (see photo at the top of this article). That was more than 38 hours after the shelter-in-place restriction ended. While local television stations provided updates sooner, relying on third-party news sources rather than a direct emergency alert system highlights a significant failure in the communication chain.
Make Sure Your Emergency Notification Plan Has a Reliable All-Clear Strategy
This delay is unacceptable. It begs the question: Does your campus or organization have a reliable method to notify the community when an emergency has concluded? If not, your safety plan is incomplete and could erode the trust your community has in your emergency notification program.
Of course, my experience pales in comparison to what the residents of Hawaii went through back in 2018. More than 1 million mobile phones received an erroneous emergency notification regarding an imminent missile attack. While state officials canceled the alert internally within six minutes, it took nearly 38 minutes to transmit a correction to the public. During the interim, terrified residents sought shelter in anticipation of a nuclear strike.
Related Article: Lessons Learned from Hawaii’s Missile Attack False Alarm Fiasco
My experience last month during the container ship fire was more of an annoyance and didn’t really cause too much distress, although the six-hour delay in receiving initial notification about the fire is truly disturbing.
The delay in sending out an all-clear message following the incident highlights yet another gap in Los Angeles county’s regional alert program, which was already under the microscope over last winter’s delay in issuing evacuation orders in Altadena where 18 people died in the Eaton fire.
