Alarming failures left many in path of California wildfires vulnerable and without warning

The Sonoma ridgeline was a sunrise of flame as Sgt. — Rob Lewin, director of the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management The fires highlighted the inadequacies of the emergency warnings officials employed and have prompted a push for new safety protocols. “I can use my cellphone to order a pizza and it gets here,” said Rob Lewin, director of the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management. “It’s like throwing horseshoes and hand grenades,” said Santa Barbara County Emergency Manager Jeff Gater. Therefore, Santa Barbara stuffed so much geography into 90 characters its emergency evacuation orders looked “EVAC ORDER: Montecito S. of 192, N. of 101, W. of Toro Cyn, E. of Summit Rd & Country Club” FEMA staff confirmed that cell carriers can choose which cell towers transmit the emergency warning, and it is up to them whether to even send a warning where the alert area is less than the cell tower coverage area.