 Joining me now to answer those questions are a number of folks here that we work with day in and day out. We're talking about OES inland regional administrator Eric Lamarrow. We have fire chief Kim Zagaris who is also a rescue and fire chief I think is the official title and then Mark Payson who is our chief from law enforcement. So we're going to start with first of all I do want to thank you guys for being here taking time out of your busy days. You guys these guys are incredibly busy so what we want to do first of all is talk with Eric. Eric now you have obviously very dialed in to this WEA system and I guess my first question to you would be as a manager as an emergency manager you know how do you find that WEA is beneficial during or prior to any kind of disaster? Well you know WEA is just the latest addition to our alert and warning toolbox. Just as we've always been able to get notifications of imminent threats out to folks through the EAS system to their televisions and radios now we have the ability to add to that the ability to to get out to folks on their wireless devices so it's really a key tool. Absolutely and I would assume the same kind of holds true for you chief Zagaris. It does. WEA actually will help the fire and rescue and other first responders to be able to get out to notify the public of danger either to them or their property could be during fires, hazmat event, could also be during earthquakes, tsunamis, other or weather related incidences or it could be something as a multi-casualty accident out on the highway or it could be a terrorism event or some other type of disaster. Okay and Chief Payson with you I would imagine the first thing that comes to your mind would be possibly AMBER Alerts. Exactly Sean with WEA the wireless emergency alert system it now complements an already in place and successful alert system in the AMBER Alert. So many successes with the AMBER Alert system we now can complement this with WEA and also I would also like to add with my counterparts that this sponsored governmental agency alert system will enhance the capabilities of not only a person but a person's family in case of a disaster or some type of emergency that they are involved in or have witness so it's a win-win for everybody. The story that we saw just a moment ago actually showed one of those families who benefited from that AMBER Alert went right to that guy's cell phone alerted him it caught his attention and boom he was able to make the call he didn't ignore it he got that call and sent that call 911. Okay Eric so we've got a number of agencies many of them in fact too many in California who haven't registered yet for WEA why is it important for these folks to register for WEA? Well you know it's a tremendous asset for us you know we've historically been very successful at the emergency alert system hitting TVs and radios but now we can hit those folks that are traveling through our communities and when we've got a threat it's important that we can reach as broad an audience as possible we want to hit everybody we don't want to get folks that are just listening on their radio or their television we want to get folks that have their wireless devices recently I was traveling through the Central Valley on business and got an alert of a hazardous dust storm that the National Weather Service believed was going to be blowing through the valley and you know that's really critical especially if you know you're sensitive to those types of conditions or if it's a hazardous condition that we don't want folks driving through so it's just a great new additional asset to allow us to get the broadest reach possible. And in fact a lot of those folks who are out there in some of these rural communities are in ag and they may be out working the fields or something and it would benefit them to know that there was a dust storm on the way. Yeah the tool the wireless emergency alert system allows us to target wireless devices the most important thing is that people don't don't disconnect that we service off their phone it's a it's a service that's already there it's available it's going to alert your device so long as you as you keep it active. And it doesn't cost them anything it's there it's already good to go. So Chief Zagaris a lot of fires so far this season we've had a little bit of a lull right now which is nice. Any of these fires involve a WEA alert has it has it been utilized for any of those fires? Actually this year we're not aware of any time it's been used for any of the wildland fires that we've experienced but I see actually for the future it being a very useful tool out there and I think as Eric was just talking about so many people you know in the old days would listen to the radio or or would wait for you know we'd call their their landlines back in back in the days so many people are using you know a cell phone today a smart device we can actually send it out and be able to get a hold of people just in a wildland fire we never know exactly who's out and what they're doing whether they're camping hiking whatever type of recreational activity they may be doing you can surely bet they're probably going to carry their their cellular phone and if they are and if we've got connectivity then we'll be able to reach them and send that message to them with any threat or danger so they're more aware of what's going on around them. Jay Payes I'm curious you were a sheriff back in the day before you came to Cal OES was WEA or any form of that used back then when you were there if not would it have helped in any situation? You know a sheriff of Merced County with Cal OES the money that we got from those grants we were able to put in the reverse 911 and you gotta bear in mind even though we've been going through a drought here in California thank goodness the rains have come we had a series of floods we had a series of other fires in the central valley area I cannot emphasize enough to Sean and to you and our viewers just how critically important the technological advancement of both the amber alert WEA the reverse 911 all these put together the perfect trifecta to enhance public safety and that's what we're trying to emphasize here so with all those little I would submit to you arrows in our quiver we're able to use that and with the enhancement of WEA again it's all about public safety and the usability and the advancement of such. Absolutely Eric yeah go ahead Sean Chief Paeson talks about the reverse 911 it's a tool that a lot of local governments use to get notifications out to residents that have subscribed to that service and where WEA complements that is you now have the ability to hit other folks that are traveling through that community so the reverse 911 systems are incredibly robust they get out to the residents that have signed up but they miss those folks that may be traveling or or a tourist in a particular community we've got a lot of those locations throughout the state. Now a moment ago I may have misspoken to a certain degree I said that if you don't get a wireless signal you don't have you say you have bad cell coverage that you may not get that that alert but from what I understand that is possible that to get some kind of alert right well there's concerns I think by some folks that the congestion will result in them not getting the alert and that's not the case the alerts will continue to go through regardless of any congestion that may be occurring. Okay does anybody else have anything else that they want to add the whole point here is that there are too many agencies that haven't signed up yet it seems like a no brainer it's just another tool in toolbox. Well Sean the only thing that I we can collectively emphasize is about public safety see something you get the alert again as Eric had mentioned and Chief Segaris had mentioned between amber alert between reverse 911 and with the WEA there's no reason not to be informed and again as I mentioned earlier in our conversation the technological advancements are there and the public needs to use them not only for themselves but their neighbors and their family. We actually need the emergency services community to embrace it and we need the public to embrace it for themselves as individuals their families and their friends and their loved ones that really will benefit everybody I can't imagine in today's day and age when you find out about an event that you don't reach out to you know touch all those folks one way or another so again as as society changes from you know how we used to listen to radio and TV and people you know on the internet listening to the radio maybe they've got an iPod or some other device or they don't have landlines just let everybody look at it more it's got a smart device some type of cellular capability so it's really you know one of those things we need to embrace as citizens of the state and as a nation it just makes sense all right it just makes sense why would you not all right thanks gentlemen for being here really appreciate you taking the time out and getting that message out it's really important