Weblogs – Page 14 – Lucien Canton CEM

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San Francisco proposes earthquake bond to fix water supply

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment

Last week I wrote about concerns raised a San Francisco Chronicle investigation regarding the City's ability to fight major fires following an earthquake. Shortly after the investigative article was published, Naomi Kelly, the City Administrator for San Francisco, submitted a letter to the editor of the Chronicle responding to the concerns raised by the investigation.

Mrs. Kelly made it clear that improving and upgrading the firefighting infrastructure in San Francisco was a very clear priority for the city and that, far from ignoring the problem, City officials are actively engaged in solving the problem. Mrs. Kelly pointed out that the City maintains an earthquake safety and emergency response program to fund repairs and improvements to the City's response capabilities, including the emergency firefighting water supply system and other earthquake safety related infrastructure.As chair of the Capital Planning Committee, Mrs. Kelly helps to oversee this work.

in 2010, voters overwhelming passed a $20 million bond to provide funding for improvements to the emergency firefighting water supply system, public safety buildings, and to the neighborhood fire stations.

Mrs. Kelly further noted that voters in San Francisco will get a chance in June to vote on the second phase of these improvements. The City has proposed a $400 million earthquake safety and emergency response bond for inclusion on the June 2, 2014 ballot.

While are still much work to do to improve San Francisco's response infrastructure, it is heartening to know what San Francisco officials are well aware of the problem and are in fact doing something about.

Will San Francisco burn in the next earthquake?

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment

San Francisco’s Official Seal bears the image of a phoenix, the mythical bird that is reborn from its own ashes. It’s an appropriate device as San Francisco burned to the ground six times prior to the earthquake and fire in 1906.

However, while the City was rebuilt and improved, the lessons of those fires were soon forgotten. By 1906, a system of cisterns that had been built in the 1860’s had been allowed to fall into disrepair, the assumption being that new firefighting apparatus made them unnecessary. Warnings of potential conflagration from the Chief Engineer, Dennis Sullivan, were ignored and City officials refused to fund the necessary resources to prepare for the coming disaster.

History has a way of repeating itself.

A recent San Francisco Chronicle report casts doubt on the City’s ability to fight fires after an earthquake. According to the report, the San Francisco Fire Department has only enough resources to fight three major fires at one time.

Following the earthquake and fire in 1906, the City implemented many of Chief Sullivan’s recommendations. The City installed a high-pressure water system that was independent of the municipal water system and could be fed by gravity from tanks on the hills or draft seawater directly from the Bay. However, as the City has grown, it has outstripped the capacity of this system, putting much of the residential area of the City is at risk.

The solution was to expand the system of underground cisterns to almost 200, each holding 75,000 gallons. The problem is that only one rig at a time could hook up to the cisterns and they are not always located near the fire. In the 1980’s a local battalion chief, Frank Blackburn, cobbled together a solution that would eventually become known as the Portable Water Supply System (PWSS), an above ground portable hydrant system that could pump high pressure water across half a mile wherever it was needed.

The PWSS has proved its worth. It is the system that, along with the fireboat Phoenix, is credited with saving the Marina District in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. It was also used in the Berkeley Hills fire in 1991 and, most recently, in a rare (for San Francisco) five-alarm fire in Mission Bay that eventually required 7 million gallons of water to extinguish.

So what’s the problem? As you would expect, it’s a question of funding priorities. Although other cities have floated bonds to invest in the system, San Francisco does not consider the system a capital expense and requires that the PWSS be handled within the SFFD budget. A request for $9 million for the system in 2010 was turned down. The PWSS remains at essential the same level it was at in 1989 when it was experimental.

It's not hard to see parallels to 1906. Let's hope that City officials see it as well.

Improve your RFPs with this one simple step

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment

It's that time of year for those of us who consult to the public sector. Government funding has trickled down and local governments are starting to put out their requests for proposals for consulting services. And many of them will end up wasting money because they make a common mistake: they won't reveal their budget.

I'm not sure why budgets are supposed to be secret. Government grants are public record and I have occasionally been able to track back to the legislation at their local board or council and find out the approved amount for the project. But there is a misconception that keeping the budget secret will somehow get you a better deal. After all, if a consultant knows how much you have to spend, they're going to bid that amount, right?

Of course we will.

But here's the thing. As a consultant, I try to work within your budget. If you only have a small amount to spend, I try to figure out how to achieve your project goals as simply as possible. The more you have to spend, the more value I can provide.

Let's take a common example: updating emergency plans. A small budget means that I might review your plan, make recommendations, and teach you a process to correct them. A larger budget means I can help you facilitate inter agency working groups and manage your review process. If you're really flush, I can help you design an exercise to test your new plan. Without knowing your budget, I run the risk of giving you a proposal that is either undervalued for the available budget or priced outside it. Neither of us will be happy.

A big advantage to revealing your budget is that you eliminate price as a variable and can focus on value. If all competitors are fairly close in price, you can more easily compare proposals to see which offers the best value. You no longer need to juggle price versus value or use complex formulas.

So should you reveal your budget? only if you truly want the best value for your budget dollars and a wider range of quality proposals.

Economic recovery or safety – are they mutually exclusive?

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment

The aftermath of a disaster is often a complex time when competing interests can pit public safety agencies against their own citizens. The government, concerned about the immediate safety of its citizens, places restrictions on reentry to damaged areas. But people are more worried on about their future livelihood and often see these restrictions as detrimental.

On February 14^th, Mount Kelud on Java Island in Indonesia erupted, throwing debris 12 miles into the atmosphere, displacing over 100,000 people, and killing four. Aside from the immediate impacts, the eruption also brought the risk of future landslides as rains wash the debris down river beds that pass through many of the villages. For this reason, the government has banned residents from returning to their homes if they live within 6 miles of the volcano. But the residents aren't listening.

Their reasons are many. For farmers, there is the need to return and tend crops and livestock or risk losing their livelihood. But for others, the eruption represents a windfall of sorts. The building industry pays well for volcanic ash and debris as it can be used to make a particularly strong cement. People who earn their living supplying sand to building companies can make almost twice as much for the volcanic ash as they do for regular sand. Given the potential profits, evading security patrols is just a cost of doing business.

The lesson here is that while safety is always a priority, responders must be able to accommodate people who have a need to reenter a restricted area. You cannot just dismiss concerns over economic survival – people are entitled to a level of understanding on the part of their government. Limited, controlled access is always safer than chasing trespassers.

Threat Averted: Woody’s six gun seized at Heathrow

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment

My kids were big Power Rangers fans when they were little. My wife even made them Power Ranger suits that were the envy of all their friends one Halloween. So when my son asked for a particular figure for Christmas, I did my best to track it down without success. You know how it is – they’re everywhere until you need it.

Several months later while on a FEMA operation in Pasadena, I regularly haunted the local toy store with no luck. I did manage to score two Power Ranger pistols, though, which were extremely rare, to take them home as consolation prizes.

These were the halcyon days before TSA and increased airport security so imagine my surprise when my “firearms” were confiscated by security screeners. Even though they were clear plastic and very “space age” looking they were considered dangerous, they had to be transported by the crew. (I think the fold-out rubber blade may have had something to do with it.) And, of course, the crew couldn’t find them when the plane landed – guess their kids were fans as well. I did finally get them back the next day after raising a fuss. And my son eventually got his figure.

What made me think about this was an article in London’s Daily Mail about security screeners at Heathrow confiscating the pistol on a child’s toy. Yep, Woody from Toy Story was busted for trying to take his six shooter on board an aircraft. He’s probably on the terrorist watch list now.

Bad enough that the screener felt this was an issue. What makes it worse is he seemed to have consulted others who felt that the plastic replica posed a threat. And for those of you who are into crisis communications, the Department of Transport spokesperson told reporters essentially “no comment,” which we all know if the kiss of death. Here is his statement:

We do not comment on specific incidents or details of our security regime. Airports and airlines can use their discretion to remove any item being carried in hand luggage when they believe it may be perceived as a threat.

My last blog talked about an over-commitment to process that led to a death in Washington DC. This incident isn’t anywhere near that serious but it is part of the same problem – allowing process to trump common sense. When we eliminate discretion from our front line workers, they do exactly as their told, no matter how stupid or embarrassing the consequences.

And somewhere a child is lamenting the loss of his toy.

Over-commitment to process leads to death in DC

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment

At a training course many years ago, I was introduced to the idea that people could be roughly divided into four basic types: action, idea, process, and people. The quintessential example of a process person was one of my work colleagues. He made a copy of every document he dealt with, stapled a typed cover sheet describing the content to the document, and then filed it away in a neatly labeled folder. He was always behind in his filing and once did a time-motion study that showed his job really needed 1.25 people. Some months later I took over his job, stopped keeping unneeded copies of documents, eliminated cover sheets and used batch processing. Within a few weeks I reported to my boss that I was ready to take on more work as I estimated that I had 20% of my time free.

This example may be a bit over the top, but we see this type of slavish devotion to process every day and it can have tragic consequences. Last January a 77-year old man collapsed with a heart attack across the street from DC fire station. When onlookers rushed to the station for help, they were told that they needed to call 911 before anyone could help them. There were a number of other complicating factors (the responding ambulance was sent to the wrong location, for example) but the bottom line is the man died only feet away from the help that might have saved him.

The rule against self-dispatching was implemented for very good reasons and violating it can and should have serious consequences. But it shouldn’t trump common sense. While the fire department is investigating and has remained largely silent about the incident, it is significant that the lieutenant in charge of the station was relieved and is taking retirement.

Don’t get me wrong. We need process people or else idea people like me would never get anything done. We need form and structure, we need planning, and we need organization. But when process gets in the way of doing the right thing, there’s something wrong with our thinking.

Resistance to Change: A Tail from the dog park

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Lucien Canton | Posted in Tails From The Dog Park, WeblogsLeave a Comment

He goes by the improbable name of Bowser, a big, gentle labrador who loves to play. Bowser until recently was one of our regulars at the dog park. Sadly, he won't be joining us for our early morning romps in the future.

No, Bowser hasn't gone to the Big Dog Park in the Sky. We've had that happen to other friends and it's always a difficult time for all. No, this is Bowser's own fault. You see, he just doesn't adapt well to change.

The problem is that Bowser's guardians have bought a new car. Apparently, that "new car smell" we humans enjoy so much doen't work for Bowser. Unlike the smelly old car that he associated with trips to the dog park, it is an unknown smell and, in his world, that's not a good thing. Bowser refused to enter the new car and when an eighty pound dog digs in his heels, you're not moving him without a great deal of effort. It was easier to create a new routine of local walks than to fight him every morning and so Bowser is now making new friends closer to home.

Change is difficult for many of us, some more than others. Yet we can only grow through new experiences. Bowser's recalcitrance has two lessons for us. The first is that resisting change can alter your world just as strongly change can. The second is that resisting change doesn't always lead to negative consequences, just different ones. Bowser is still enjoying walks and making friends.

But I bet he's not having as much fun as he did at the dog park!

Asiana crash footage raises questions

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment

Newly released footage from a dash-mounted camera shows that firefighters at the scene of last year's Asiana airlines crash at San Francisco International Airport were aware of the position of the victim who was later killed by being run over by two fire trucks. The film and the attendant media coverage offer some interesting lessons in crisis management.

The first is that nothing is truly confidential anymore. The San Francisco Chronicle is saying only that it received the footage from "a source." Because the footage was not released by the San Francisco Fire Department, there was no opportunity to create a context and now the department will be playing catch up.

Context is important because the Chronicle article based on the footage raises some embarrassing questions about on-scene procedures and witness testimony at the recent National Transportation Safety Board hearings. For example,

Why was the victim's location not marked with a casualty flag?
Why her vitals not checked?
Why were the drivers working without spotters?
Why does the fire officer who claimed to have been directing rigs around the victim not appear in the footage?

There are possible explanations for all these questions but they have been asked before and are still unanswered. They will no doubt be raised again at a civil trial and the Department is most likely not responding to them on the advice of the City Attorney. There may also be issues related to the camera footage itself – the source stipulated that the Chronicle not post it online because of its graphic nature – that prevented its release. But the public can't know this unless you tell them. Withholding all comments is not the best way to deal with public concern.

A Christmas Story

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment

Of the many stories told about Christmas, one that has always had a special meaning for me is the unofficial truce of 1914 during World War I.

December 1914 was just a few short months after the start of the war and the Germans and the Allies had fought themselves to a stalemate. This was the beginning of the long period of trench warfare that would come to characterize World War I. No one quite knows how or why but on that Christmas Day, 100,000 combatants voluntarily stopped the carnage for a few short hours.

It started slowly on Christmas Eve with British and German soldiers singing carols and tossing gifts across the lines. On Christmas morning a group of unarmed Germans crossed No-Man's Land to exchange greetings with their enemy. Soon British soldiers left their trenches to mingle with the Germans. Small gifts were exchanged and their are stories of football matches between the Germans and the British soldiers. Both sides to the opportunity to recover and bury the dead and there are stories of joint services.

The truce did not occur everywhere. Fighting still took place in some sectors. And, of course, senior officers were livid. In the future, units would be rotated along the front and artillery barrages would be scheduled on Christmas to prevent future fraternization.

World War I would go on to become one of the most horrible experiences in human history and as the war went on there were fewer and fewer instances of fraternization. It's hard to see an enemy who uses mustard gas and machine guns as human.

But for one brief moment in 1914, it did happen and will forever stand as testimony to the basic humanity in all of us.

May you enjoy the best of holidays and a most prosperous new year!

Sustainable water: San Francisco on the right track

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Lucien Canton | Posted in WeblogsLeave a Comment

What do a City Attorney, an evironmental specialist, and an emergency manager have to do with the San Francisco Water Department? It was, admittedly, a very unusual partnership but we all shared a common interest: deep wells.

One of the main concerns I had as Director of Emergency Services for San Francisco was water. San Francisco sits at the tip of peninsula and the end of a pipeline that extends into the mountains 167 miles away. In an earthquake, that means that our water supply is subject to interruption. Water for drinking and for firefighting was a primary concern for us as emergency planners.

This led us to the deep wells and the shrinking aquifier under the City. San Francisco had a series of deep wells but they were non-potable and had been capped for years. Part of the problem was that so much water had been pumped out of the aquifier to water neighboring golf courses that the wells were not viable and we had seen dramatic drops in the water level at Lake Merced, one of our few above-ground resources. And so I found myself working with our Department of the Evironment, a City Attorney who had an interest in the wells, and our Water Department to recharge the aquifier and reopen the deep wells.

I left office before we made any major breakthroughs but I have followed the work of my friends with interest. The City successfully negotiated alternative water options with the golf courses and Lake Merced has been largely restored. The Water Department has also established the San Francisco Groundwater Supply Project, which is intended to produce 4 milllion gallons per day of local, sustainable water. While this is small compared to our daily consumption of about 73 million gallons per day, it would be a welcome addition to the supplies in our cisterns and holding tanks in a disaster. Phase I of the project, which will create four new wells and supporting infrastructure is scheduled to begin shortly with the goal of providing 2.8 million gallons per day.

It's gratifying to see that there are still people in government that can pursue a long-term dream. To all of those who made this happen, well done!