S.D.'s Emergency Communication Receives Top Rating

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 3, 2007 at 11:49 AM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

San Diego emergency response agencies are among the best in the nation for their ability to communicate effectively with each other in a disaster. The Federal Department of Homeland Security rated San

San Diego emergency response agencies are among the best in the nation for their ability to communicate effectively with each other in a disaster. The Federal Department of Homeland Security rated San Diego in the top four large urban areas. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Emergency response personnel say they’ve worked hard to overcome the hurdles of incompatible radio systems and uncoordinated planning. San Diego city fire chief Tracey Jarman says the region’s good grades have a lot to do with the lessons learned in the Cedar fire that burned down 2,000 homes countywide in 2003.

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Jarman: The Cedar Fire was the wake up call, vast improvements have been made since the Cedar Fire and it’s using communication equipment in a coordinated response so that everyone can talk to each other. But let me underscore, as a region can we get better? Yes we can.

Jarman says the city’s spent $7 million of federal money on better communications, plus the city’s committed $15 million of its own money to upgrade radio systems. Fire crews are able to stay in touch with each other better, but fire dispatch centers still don’t have the technology to talk to each other. Alison St John, KPBS News

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.