Supervisor Unaware Of Changed Notification Procedure

An investigation into the handling of a toxic gas release at a metal casting company in Clackamas County (Ore.) earlier this month determined there was confusion over how to activate the county’s community notification system, and that surrounding neighbors were never instructed to shelter in place. According a report issued last week, a Portland Bureau of Emergency Communications (BOEC) supervisor was unaware the county changed notification systems last October, as well as the contact person to activate the system. Several agencies were involved in handling the incident near the city-county border, which also complicated inter-agency communications. In fact, the first notification request went from Clackamas Fire to Clackamas County Communications, and then to BOEC. The unnamed BOEC supervisor then contacted Portland police to activate the alert, and they notified the Multnomah County emergency manager—who called back the Clackamas Comm supervisor. Oddly, during that conversation, neither person asked about activating the system. Download (pdf) the incident report here and read more of the complicated event.