Butte County Sheriff's Office

Procedures Manual

Emergency Mass Notifications Procedures

201.1 GENERALLY

Any emergency mass notifications/alerts will follow the Butte County Sheriff’s Office Alert and
Warning Guidelines along with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and California
Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) best practices guidelines. Any personnel who have the
responsibility of coordinating and/or sending emergency mass notifications/alerts shall read,
understand and keep a working knowledge of the Sheriff’s Office Alert and Warning Guidelines

201.2 SHERIFF’S EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT LIEUTENANT RESPONSIBILITIES

The Sheriff’s Lieutenant responsible for Emergency Management (Sheriff’s Emergency

Management Lieutenant) or his/her designee will be responsible for managing emergency mass
notifications to the public during emergencies or other incidents where mass notifications can
help protect human life. The Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant will be responsible
for ensuring sufficient staffing of the Emergency Notification Group to be able to support
sustained emergencies over a protracted period of time. The Sheriff’s Emergency Management
Lieutenant will also ensure the Emergency Notification Group has received the initial and
ongoing training required to be able to send emergency mass notifications.

201.3 ON-SCENE SUPERVISOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Obtain briefing from deputies and/or on-scene emergency personnel to include specific details
on which area(s) need to be evacuated. Provide the pertinent information to dispatch and the
Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant so appropriate notifications/alerts can be
disseminated. As the situation progresses, update the Sheriff’s Emergency Management
Lieutenant of additional areas to be warned/ordered to evacuate or changed from orders to
warnings. Determine additional areas to be warned/order to evacuate or change from orders to
warnings according to the zone system set up by the Emergency Incident Team.

201.4 DISPATCH RESPONSIBILITIES

Obtain information related to the request for evacuations from emergency personnel or
on-scene supervisor. Provide the information obtained to the Sheriff’s Emergency Management
Lieutenant, then assist with any call-outs or notifications as needed. Update the on-scene
supervisor and the Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant of any pertinent information
they become aware of that relates to current or potential evacuations. Input pertinent
information into the log (such as the time messages are sent out).

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Procedures Manual

Emergency Mass Notification Procedures

201.5 EMERGENCY NOTIFICATIONS GROUP RESPONSIBILITIES

A. The Emergency Notifications Group consists of a minimum of 10 personnel who have

been trained to the recommended standards set forth by FEMA, Cal OES and the Butte
County Sheriff’s Office Alert and Warning Guidelines. The Emergency Notifications
Group is responsible for crafting emergency mass notifications and alerts that are sent
out to the general public to disseminate pertinent information to protect human life due to
an actual or potential threat.
B. The Emergency Notification Group will be responsible for sending out emergency mass
notifications under the direction of the Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant or
his/her designee. The Emergency Notification Group will endeavor to follow the
procedures in the Sheriff’s Office Alert and Warning Guidelines and best practices
recommended by FEMA and Cal OES when sending emergency mass notifications.
C. The Emergency Notification Group will endeavor to follow the CodeRED and Integrated
Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) start to finish instructions when crafting and
sending emergency mass notifications. Messages will be prepared to alert those
persons with access and functional needs as well as the general public.
D. Members of the Emergency Notification Group will be responsible for attending all
required trainings and performing monthly tests to ensure proficiency with sending
emergency mass notifications.
E. The Emergency Notification Group may be called upon day or night to craft and send
emergency mass notifications.

201.6 PROCEDURES

The following is meant to be a guide only; as we have learned from previous experience, every
incident will dictate what we do. Deviations from these procedures may be necessary in order to
warn the public of potential dangers. Public safety will always be the first priority as we make
decisions.

When an event occurs that necessitates sending emergency mass notifications to the public,
BCSO dispatchers will send out a text to the Emergency Notification Group to alert them to
respond to the Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant with their availability. The
Emergency Notification Group will update their status in the Emergency Notification Group text
to ensure all necessary tasks and roles are fulfilled. In the case of a large-scale evacuations,
dispatch will send out a CodeRED notification to all deputies and sergeants.

Upon identification of a technician from the Emergency Notification Group who is at a computer
and ready to send messages, and who notifies the Sheriff’s Emergency Management
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Emergency Mass Notification Procedures

Lieutenant they are ready, will be the one assigned to craft and send emergency mass
notifications until relieved.

The Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant or his/her designee will identify the area the
notification needs to be sent to and what type of message is needed (preferably directly from
the on-scene supervisor if cell phone communications are possible).

The Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant or his/her designee will contact the identified
Emergency Notification Group technician and provide the message type (order or warning and
reason for the emergency such as fire, flood, etc). The Sheriff’s Emergency Management
Lieutenant, his/her designee, or on-duty supervisor will provide the evacuation zone(s) to be
placed under an order/warning so all involved personnel will be working off the same
information. The Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant or his/her designee will update
the public facing map on https://buttecountygis.maps.arcgis.com, when possible, to help keep
the public informed of what areas are affected.

The Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant will ensure that County PIO, OEM, Sheriff,
Captains, Dispatch, Cal Fire, CHP, and Public Works are aware of the emergency and the
message being sent out. The Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant will stay updated
with information about the emergency to ensure appropriate messages are being sent out and
all stakeholders are updated with information.

Technician will select the appropriate message template from the shared account and insert the
incident specific information into the message unless the Sheriff’s Emergency Management
Lieutenant or his/her designee provides the message to be sent (preferably by text or email).
The technician will use the 160-character messages in English, Spanish and Hmong and paste
them into the email and Text-to-Speech (TTS) message. The 160-character messages for
English, Spanish and Hmong will be used in the Emergency Alert System (EAS) message, if
one is to be sent out. Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) messages will be done in English and
Spanish with the 90-character message. In the WEA 360 English text box, the 90- character
English and Hmong template messages will be included. In the WEA 360 Spanish text box, the
160-character message in Spanish will be included.

The Public Information Officer (PIO) will be contacted by the Sheriff’s Emergency Management
Lieutenant or his/her designee and will be provided the same information as the technician so
social media message templates can be selected to send out in conjunction with the IPAWS
and CodeRed messages. The PIO will select English, Spanish, and Hmong templates and add
the appropriate information for each message. All three languages will be added to the Butte
County Sheriff’s Office’s social media websites for the public.
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The back-up PIO will record a public message on the CodeRED Bulletin Board (Emergency
Information line). The number for the Bulletin Board is 833-512-5378. The Bulletin Board
message must be completed prior to sending out the IPAWS/CodeRed and social media
messages. If the Bulletin Board message can’t be done for some reason send out the other
messages without the Bulletin Board number.

The technician and PIO will confirm their messages with the Sheriff’s Emergency Management
Lieutenant or his/her designee and will coordinate the sending of those messages accordingly.

The technician is to verify both CodeRED and IPAWS messages were sent out. The IPAWS
message will be given first priority in sending out emergency mass notifications to the public
followed by the CodeRed message if there is a problem sending them at the same time. The
technician will have a dispatch note in the log the time the emergency mass message was sent.

The Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant will ensure staging area personnel receive
information regarding the people registered in the Special Needs Awareness Program (SNAP)
that reside in the impacted area. SNAP list is located on the Department of Employment and
Social Services (DESS) Database. Dispatch can assist with obtaining this information if there is
sufficient staffing otherwise contact DESS and that information shall be provided. Dispatch can
obtain this information using the RIMS-SNAP Interface after September 2021 and create a call
for service for each person listed in the SNAP database in the impacted area.

201.7 SUMMARY

Events happen that require evacuations/mass notifications.

Dispatch notifies Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant and CodeRed sent to

Emergency Notification Group/SAR and Comm Reserves, if necessary.

Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant obtains information for mass notification (type of
message and map boundaries).

Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant provides a map and message to technician and
PIOs.

Technician will select appropriate template message and add pertinent information and build
map in IPAWS and CodeRed. At the same time, the PIO will select the appropriate template
message and build social media messages. The alternate PIO will begin recording the message
on the bulletin board along with Spanish and Hmong translators.
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Emergency Mass Notification Procedures

Sheriff’s Emergency Management Lieutenant is notified by technician and both PIOs that
messages are ready, then messages are sent.

Technician will verify that IPAWS and CodeRed messages were sent out and have dispatch
note it in the log.

A second technician will respond to the Command Post to take over sending messages.