Disaster Preparedness Managers ask Community Hearing on Early Warning Siren System

November 15, 2005

President Peskin and members of the Disaster Council,

Thank you for your attention to San Francisco's efforts to create the nation's most innovative Early Warning Siren System. As you know, the system has a number of unique functions, including the ability to broadcast different messages in different neighborhoods, to broadcast in different languages, and to broadcast from remote locations with wireless devices.

During the initial implementation phase of the siren project, technical staff of the Department of Telecommunication and Information Services (DTIS) discovered mechanical shortcomings in the sirens while performing quality assurance tests. DTIS then secured an independent auditory expert to verify and detail technical constraints of the hardware. DTIS recently received the report from this expert and has apprised the contractor that provided the siren hardware of the need to repair or replace this hardware. Additionally during this process, several repairs were made to the existing system. It is important to note that at no time has the siren system been non-functional while these refinements and repairs have been made.

Additionally, DTIS staff has built redundancy into the siren system that has allowed it to function without interruption, as verified by the fact that weekly tests continued to occur every Tuesday at noon during this initial implementation phase.

We believe that a public hearing to share information with our residents is the best way to ensure that there are no misconceptions about the city's siren system. It is important that local residents are made aware of this innovative project, as well as refinements and modifications that are being made currently and additional future actions to test and refine the system. Given the recent anxiety in our country around tsunamis and floods, we would like to schedule the hearing in the Western part of our city, specifically in the Sunset neighborhood.

We respectfully request that you partner with us to hold this public hearing in the community to ensure that our citizens are kept informed of this important disaster preparedness project.

Sincerely,

Shawn Allison
DTIS Project Manager, Early Warning Siren System

Annemarie Conroy
Director, Office of Emergency Service and Homeland Security

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