The debut of a reverse-911 notification system for volunteer firefighters in Riverside County failed during a lightning-spawned emergency, an organization representing the volunteers said last week.

During a series of Aug. 25 fires started by lightning in rural Sage and Menifee, the new system misdirected some firefighters and failed to contact others, according to Save Our Volunteer Firefighters.

The system was untested but the county fire department decided to use it Wednesday due to the high number of emergency calls and incidents, said Cal Fire-Riverside County Deputy Chief Glenn Patterson.

"We’ve been working on the system for seven months now," Patterson said. "Due to the high amount of traffic – the multiple wildland fires and storm-related incidents – we decided to use it before we had a chance to officially publish our procedures."

The county board is considering eliminating volunteer firefighters and replacing them with a reserve firefighter system, said Bruce Conole, a volunteer firefighter based at Station 53 in Garner Valley.

"The reverse-911 alerts are a brand new program, and as far as I know it was not communicated to volunteers before it was tested," Conole said. "The department didn’t do anything wrong. It was a major emergency; they needed help.

"But this still is an example of poor communication and poor management Advertisement

[ Chatton and Associates ] in my opinion," Conole added. "When a new program is brought into play, it should be communicated to the emergency responders they need."

Patterson said the new alert program was discussed with Jeff Larusso, the Riverside County Fire Department’s volunteer program coordinator, and that Larusso had talked about it at several meetings with volunteer firefighters.

In addition, 399 of the county’s 406 volunteer firefighters have phone numbers in the new alert system, Patterson said.

On Aug. 25, thunderstorms in southwest Riverside County ignited fires in rural areas and trapped bus passengers and knocked out power in Lake Elsinore, prompting firefighters to respond to multiple incidents.

The storms "created mayhem throughout the county, with lightning-generated fires and toppling power poles, quickly overwhelming on-duty fire crews," a statement from Save Our Volunteer Firefighters said.

"At 3:40 p.m., some volunteer firefighters received an unexpected robotic voice alert call saying it was the fire department asking them to staff second roll engines and water tenders.

"Because members were never briefed or trained on the new system and necessary procedures, the resulting coverage was less than expected.

"Sheepishly, the fire department sent a short e-mail to volunteer firefighters briefly explaining the new system at 6:28 p.m., nearly three hours later. But that message still lacked any detailed operational procedures."