Menlo Park Fire Rolls Out First NorCal Earthquake Alert System

MENLO PARK, CA — When the 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck Mexico City in September 1985, the shaker that killed an estimated 40,000 people destined Alejandro Cantu for his line of work. He was born on that year.

Seven years ago, Cantu developed his Berkeley-based Sky Alert device to help save lives with precious seconds to safely cover or flee.

"It's my passion. I've seen the devastation. We're trying to solve the earthquake problem," he told Patch.

The hardware device now serves as an interface for the Menlo Park Fire Protection District to take the earthquake detection from its newly-installed California Shake Alert sensory network and enact constructive measures such as opening the two fire house apparatus doors, turning on lights and turning off gas appliances.

Sky Alert is about the size of a mini laptop with a small screen that provides an expected level of earthquake, along with a visual countdown that resembles an action flick.

At prices starting at $10,000, the telecommunications engineer has sold 4,000 devices but believes Sky Alerts "need to be deployed all over the West Coast."

"We've got to be thinking about schools, companies and factories," he said.

As an example, Walmart has deployed the device in Mexico City where they're assembled in a plant. The company offers training, so employees are adept at using it.

Time is of the essence.

It's not a question of if but when a major quake happens, scientists have long lamented. The number of fractured faults in the San Francisco Bay Area such as the overdue Hayward Fault makes for a troubling future for the East Bay. The tectonic plates shifting upward or downward along the San Andreas Fault presents a huge concern to the spine of California. But even more devastating could be a large thrust in the Cascadia Subduction Zone off the state's coast that would likely trigger a tsunami burying the low-lying shoreline.

"In a way, we're lucky (the recent Ridgecrest quake) was in the middle of the desert. It was a beautiful wake up call. But we may not get another wake up call," Cantu said.

He equates the need for the devices to smoke alarms in 1975 and hopes the public and its representing agencies will not squander an opportunity before it's too late.

The mover-and-shaker Peninsula fire district got on board the pilot program by taking $22,000 in grant funds to buy two Sky Alert devices for stations 2 and 6. The interface device, which serves as a specialized Alexa, provides quick instructions and works with the Shake Alert network with an audible system to send out a piercing community alarm. It results in a sound similar to having a giant megaphone attached to the fire house.

Before the Earth starts to shake, earthquake preparedness advocates have long sought an improved alert system that goes beyond barking dogs and flying birds.

Menlo Park Fire hopes to answer the call with its Shake Alert connection, which when linked with the Sky Alert device, represents the first fully-integrated earthquake alert system in Northern California. The fire district summoned the state to become the first public agency to combine the Shake Alert system with an area-wide, audible, community notification system. The district budgeted $250,000 for the whole package.

"We're doing the best we can to plan," Chief Harold Schapelhouman said. "Wouldn't it be nice to know something can (alert us)?"

The fire district approached the U.S. Geological Survey five years ago with its idea.

"We've seen it work in tests. It's the only first station (in Northern California) doing this kind of implementation," said Jennifer Straus, the Berkeley Seismology Lab external relations officer and regional coordinator for Shake Alert, Northern California. "This isn't to say there are no problems."

Straus was citing the practical sense.

"It hasn't truly been tested," she said.

But does it work better than animals sensing seismic P-waves?

"Yes, animals are not reliable as alert systems," she said.

Still, there's something to be said for humans harnessing that sensory power and putting it to good use.

"We're doing better than we were in 1989," she said, referring to the Loma Prieta earthquake in the Bay Area. The 6.9-magnitude shaker caused widespread damage, liquified the Marina District in San Francisco, flattened vehicles and passengers like concrete pancakes on the now-defunct, Bay-connecting Nimitz (Cypress) Freeway that prompted circumventing Interstate 880 and rattled nerves of building dwellers including those about to watch the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's.

Loma Prieta jars the memory

Menlo Park Battalion Chief Manny Navarro recalls the fall day like it was yesterday — especially since as a senior heavy rescue instructor he worked the devastating Nimitz road collapse.

Getting ready to watch the game at home in San Leandro, he grabbed a beer and fired up the barbecue grill when he heard a loud bang and felt the Earth bounce. The television and phone went dead, triggering a serious event.

He knew to call in to work in Oakland for the fire district there.

Reporting to duty from that fateful Tuesday through Saturday was a test in futility. An estimated 40 people died, but one little victory was the spotting of a man alive in the rubble because a state engineer wielding a flashlight noticed a hand sticking out of the mangled rebar and concrete.

"We've come a long ways since then," Navarro said. "It remains to be seen how well the technology is going to work, but I think it's going in the right direction. Even a few seconds notice will allow people to move away from things."

Along with other resources in its toolbox, the district put the innovative system on display for community members Wednesday at fire Station 6 on Oak Grove Avenue in downtown Menlo Park.

Also at the ready for emergency response, the Peninsula district is set to send its heavy rescue team into service in August — a $1 million investment in technical search equipment. There's also its K9 George, who has already been instrumental in recovery operations at the Camp Fire site in Paradise. Menlo Park also has a renowned drone program at its disposal.

The emergency preparedness demonstration is not the first for Menlo Park Fire. To test out the state's Shake Alert system, the fire agency selected the mid-April anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake in which a 7.9 or greater magnitude demolished major parts of the city.

The statewide system is unique to the Bay Area and Northern California as one of the first in California.

See also

• Peninsula 'Shake Alert' System To Be Tested Thursday