Riviera Practices Full-Scale Evacuation Print E-mail
By Melissa Evans   
Sunday, April 29 2007

Cars streamed off the Riviera after residents received police calls. Fire trucks, parademics and emergency vehicles combed the streets. Officials directed motorists. Reporters and videographers gathered footage at a designated media center. *** WATCH THE VIDEO ***

The only thing missing Saturday morning was smoke, flames or other signs of disaster.

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The only thing missing Saturday morning was smoke, flames or other signs of disaster. Photo by Melissa Evans / SBN
That was the point of Saturday's full-scale evacuation -- to get residents, emergency workers, city leaders, politicians and the media ready in case of an emergency.

"It's not a matter of if, but when we have an emergency," said Santa Barbara County Supervisor Salud Carbajal, who spoke to reporters early Saturday before the drill. "The better people are prepared, the better chance we have to save lives and property."

Roughly two dozen agencies participated, including the American Red Cross, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department and other law enforcement agencies.

Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum, state Assemblyman Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) and other city leaders also were on hand.

One of the primary goals was to test the city's communication networks, particularly reverse 211 calling capability. Residents received a recorded message telling them to leave their homes after being identified by police dispatch.

One of the kinks emergency workers have to work on is the large number of residents who now use their cell phones as their primary telephone. Many households don't even have an active land line, organizers said.

For Saturday's drill, residents were notified through mail months beforehand, and advisories went out to the media last week. People were warned to stay away from the Riviera on Saturday morning.

Participating residents drove from their homes to one of six check-points set up along Alameda Padre Serra. They presented green cards that were checked and counted by volunteers before being allowed to return home.

The whole drill took about three hours.

The excercise was patterned after a similar drill conducted by the county a year ago in the Mission Canyon area. Both Mission Canyon and the Riviera are in areas designated as susceptible to high fire danger, authorities said.

"We learn a lot by practicing these things," said Santa Barbara County Fire Capt. Eli Iskow, a department spokesman. "It's better to learn now than in the middle of a disaster."

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