Torrance Oil Refinery Explosion Response:
Crisis Communication and Agency
Coordination
Soraya SutherlinEmergency Services Manager
City of Torrance
Claudia DentVP, Product Management and Marketing
Everbridge
David DumaisDeputy Fire Chief
City of Torrance
Agenda
• Why Torrance needed a system
• Communications Strategies Prior to a system
• Recent Events
• Lessons Learned
• Q and A
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Claudia DentVP, Product Management and Marketing
Everbridge
Soraya SutherlinEmergency Services Manager
City of Torrance
David DumaisDeputy Fire Chief
City of Torrance
#CustomerPespective
Soraya SutherlinEmergency Services Manager
City of Torrance
Torrance, CA
• Sixth largest city in LA County; 20.5 sq miles
• Population 147,478 (2010); daytime population estimated at
250,000;
• Located south of Redondo Beach, Ca
• 16 miles from Downtown Los Angeles
Torrance, CA
• Balanced City
• Full-service City
• Police and Fire Departments (Class 1)
• Torrance Unified School District (43 schools, including 4 high schools)
• Del Amo Fashion Center
• 1.5 miles of coastal line
• ExxonMobil Refinery
• Reservoir (750 acres)
• Torrance Airport (non-commercial)
• North American Honda Headquarters
• Toyota Motor USA North America Headquarters
• Rail tracks, Interstate 405
• Newport-Inglewood Fault line
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Mass Notification (Public) Circa 2013
• Consent Decree (1990) between the City and ExxonMobil
regarding plant operations;
− Community Warning Siren
− RAN (Radio Alert Network)
− Mass Notification
• Old system was a pay-per-use system
− Low Frequency of use;
− Bought out several times by competitors;
− “Shelf” system for the “in-case of emergency situation”
− Limited familiarly of what it did or how it worked
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What is Our Goal?
• Communicate imminent threats to life, property, or the environment to our community;− Right message, to the right
person, at the right time.
• Engage our residents and businesses in non-emergent situations through an interactive platform that allows for a two-way dialogue;
• Instill trust and confidence in our ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies and disasters.
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The Need to Evolve
• Identifying the need
− Automated
− Redundant
− Web-based Solution
− Integrated into daily operations
− Geo-coding of maps, pictures, zones
• How we performed prior
− Internal Communications
Fax
− External Communications
Pay-per-use Notification System
Nixle
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Mass Notification (Public) Circa 2013
• Internal Notifications− Based solely on email and
phone lists− Lacked sufficient redundancy
• Public Notifications− 2 separate systems− Older Notification system
Pay-per-use system
Only targeted residential #s− Nixle
Public Safety centric
Limited in ability to provide good customer data
Very easy to use on the customers end
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Why you decided on Everbridge
• Industry leader− Good investment in product improvement− Case studies
• Partnering agencies− Neighboring cities− LA County Hospitals
• Interactive − 2-way dialogue
• Customizable− Targets the person, not the device
• Internal/External uses
• Integrated into daily operations− Not only for emergency use
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TorranceAlerts
• Phased Approach During Conversion (Dec.)
• Phase 1: E-911 Data
• Phase 2: Internal Communications− Notification groups (criteria driven)− Public Safety Notification (PSN)− Management Paging System (MPS)
• Phase 3: Public Outreach for Opt-in Portal− Subscription Categories (Examples)
Traffic Alerts;
Transit Delays;
Community alerts and events;
Farmers Markets;
Local businesses, Hospitals, Surgical Centers, SNF’s;
Access and Functional Needs.
• Phase 4: RAN Conversion
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February 18, 2015 ExxonMobil Refinery Incident
• Weather: 65 degrees, overcast, winds from
the east, 7mph;
• Initial call came in at 0850 1st alarm
response to fire at ExxonMobil refinery;
• 0854 2nd alarm response called out;
• TFD arrived on scene, established UC with
ExxonMobil FD staff
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• Initial report:
− ExxonMobil reports an explosion in the ESP unit with an initial ground fire
that was quickly extinguished by ExxonMobil personnel;
− Major damage to the ESP unit with 2 active gasoline leaks;
− Initial reports of workers missing;
− Product was quickly diverted to the flares;
− 3 minor injuries were reported and treated by XOM personnel.
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February 18, 2015 ExxonMobil Refinery Incident
• Product identified quickly and determined no
public threat by Torrance FD;
• Incident contained, releasing units (approx.
0957)
• Dropped barriers at Del Amo to prevent cars from driving through
− Crenshaw barrier left open based on
readings and wind direction
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February 18, 2015 ExxonMobil Refinery Incident
• Torrance Fire Haz Mat (E96) assigned to monitoring
− Wind direction was straight up
− No readings from Hazmat
• Main concern was accountability
− Initial reports were 8 people missing
• Quickly resolved (8 people were decontaminated on-scene based
upon fall-out
• 3 people treated and transported off-site by XOM personnel
• FD never treated anyone *
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February 18, 2015 ExxonMobil Refinery Incident
• Notifications
− 0911: TorranceAlerts Internal Notification regarding an incident
at ExxonMobil and TFD and TPD were on-scene and monitoring
the situation. Nothing outside of the facility reported except ash
inside the perimeter.
− 0930: City employees in the public works facilities (closest to the
incident site) reported ash fallout. Out of concern, an email was
sent to employees to sheltered in place
•0940: Calls into dispatch from the public reporting ash fallout in
neighborhoods
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February 18, 2015 ExxonMobil Refinery Incident
• Notifications
− 0945: Nixle Alert (Public Notification) indicating a 2nd alarm fire at
ExxonMobil TFD/TPD on-scene, no air quality issues at this time
•0950: TFD IC advised schools to shelter in place
− 1005: Nixle Alert (Public Notification) advising those in “affected
area” to shelter in place *
− 1014: TorranceAlerts Public Notification (e-911) sent to identified
impacted area to shelter in place as a precaution
• Message was a pre-recorded message and template that we
modified to reference “precautionary” instead of mandatory *
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February 18, 2015 ExxonMobil Refinery Incident
• The Media (Conventional)
− Within minutes, news media is covering
the explosion
− Positioned overhead (helicopters), on
each axis of the facility
− Each outlet was reporting something different
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February 18, 2015 Exxon Mobil Refinery Incident
• Social Media
− People started posting
almost immediately with
pictures
− Conflicting information
− Many reports of “ash-like” substance falling
around the City and
surrounding contiguous
cities
− City social media pages
were slow to update and
not all updated with the same information
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February 18, 2015 Exxon Mobil Refinery Incident
• Lessons Learned Crisis Communications
− Emergency Management Perspective
Messaging must have the 3 C’s (amongst ALL
responding agencies)
•Clear
•Concise
•Consistent
− Anticipate a community impact regardless if
they are aware
− Messages must be sent in compliments of two
•One to the area directly impacted with a specific
action to be taken and provide follow-up
•One to the entire City, notifying them of the
incident, where to get information and where to
report information
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February 18, 2015 Exxon Mobil Refinery Incident
• Lessons Learned
− Emergency Management
Perspective
•Do not wait to put information out.
•Initial notifications should go out within
5-10 minutes from the onset of the
incident
• Updates should then be sent every 15
minutes for the first hour until you have
more concrete information.
•Repeat the same information if you have
nothing new.
•Create templates in the system to use will
information cue that you can populate23
February 18, 2015 Exxon Mobil Refinery Incident
• Lessons Learned Crisis Communications− Emergency Management
Perspective
• ALL responding agencies must participate in Unified Command
• Messaging across every agency should stem from a Joint Information Center (JIC) to prevent confusion and mixed messaging
• The request for emergency messaging should be requested via radio to public safety dispatch to create a timestamp (evidence collection)
• EOC was in the “hot zone” –need the capacity to have a virtual EOC, especially if asked to shelter
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February 18, 2015 Exxon Mobil Refinery Incident
• Lessons Learned Crisis Communications− Emergency Management
Perspective
• Establish a Media Staging area immediately. Provide updates frequently and inform them on when you will be back to provide more updates.
• Sirens were not utilized (threshold was not met), but public expected it- education is key on the front end
• Shelter-in-place means something different to each person. Need to be more specific as what the expected action is when a shelter in place is issued
• Think about your contiguous cities
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February 18, 2015 Exxon Mobil Refinery Incident
• Lessons Learned Crisis Communications− Emergency Management
Perspective
• Determine where the community can call for more information
• Call-out line (Customize it)
• IVR Solution (Interactive Voice Response)
• Ensure customization for High-Priority/Non-Priority Calls
• Ensure call-throttling is on and engaged
• Save your shapes when using the map to send messaging
• For text messaging, always use a title indicator
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February 18, 2015 Exxon Mobil Refinery Incident
After Action Improvement Items
• Pre-populated templates− Provides for consistency in messaging to the public
− TorranceAlerts Internal Messaging Template
•Incident Name: (enter incident name)
•Date: (entire date)
•Time: (enter time)
•Incident Commander (s): (insert name or names)
•Unified Command: (Y/N)
•Incident Overview: (brief description of incident actions/goals)
•Torrance Resources: (what resources are on-scene or responding)
•Injuries/Deaths: (enter n/a if none)
•Community Impact: (areas impacted, streets closed, residents affected etc.)
•Media Inquires: (Y/N)
•Media Staging: (as needed, insert location)
•Social Media Notifications: (Y/N and what SM sites)
•Estimate of Incident Stabilization: (estimation of incident duration or stabilization status)
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After Action Improvement Items
• Activation of the EOC is driven by specific criteria
− Tiered system
•Alert
•Standby (conference call)
•JIC Activation
•Level 1 Activation
•Level 2
•Level 3
− Notification based upon position, not person
− Call escalation
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EOC Activation Criteria/ Notification
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After Action Improvement Items
• Social Media Handles
− Created @TorranceAlerts Twitter and Facebook handle
− Certain activation criteria activate the City PIO to become the
central point of messaging
− @TorranceAlerts will feed ALL city social media sites
− Created an email account for community to provide feedback
or report issues with the system
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#SouthBayOilSpill
• Oil on the South Bay Beaches
− Information was fragmented,
multiple reports
− Unified Command
• Authority to Close/Open?
− USGS
− LA County Health HazMat
− LA County Fire Department
Lifeguards
− Cities
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#SouthBayOilSpill
• Coordinated communication between LA County Health HazMat, US Coast Guard, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Manhattan Beach
• Dispatched TFD/TPD to Torrance Beach for observation
• Unified Command established− Information easier to gather− Consistent
• Non-safety messages sent to over 3,000 residents− Provided information− Follow-up− Reporting lines− Website resources− Instructions
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#SouthBayOilSpill
• Torrance Beach was NEVER
closed despite what the media
reported
• Corrected the messaging put
out by the media
• Unified Command worked well
• Messaging was consistent
across ALL corresponding
agencies
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• July 18, 2015 Thunderstorms
− Tropical Cyclone Dolores
• #LARAIN #LASTORM
• Thunder and Lightening throughout
Southern California
• Flooding
• NWS- wettest July on record for SoCal
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#LARAIN
#LARAIN
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#LARAIN
• Messaging was hard to control or get
ahead of
− Per LA County Fire Department
Lifeguards, ALL LA County Beaches
closed
− Agency coordination for messaging was almost silent
− Reported by news media first, then
by public agencies
• WC/BC determined it was a public
safety threat, issued TorranceAlerts to
104,000 residents in the impacted
area
• Calls and text messages
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Other Events/Incidents
• Incident at Exxon Mobil one
week later
− Reports generated every 15 min.
• Armed Forces Day Parade
− Internal and Community
updates to opt-in registrants
• Jul 4th Celebration
(Conference Calls-Area
Command)
− Internal email and text
updates
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Everbridge
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Soraya SutherlinEmergency Services Manager
City of Torrance
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