 So we're here at the mezzanine level of Qualcomm Stadium here in San Diego We're sitting here talking with Bob Kanaske a former captain of the San Diego police department Now you were the incident commander of the evacuation shelter here at Qualcomm. Yes, I was now. This was in 2007 Yes, this was the Southern California fire siege. Yes, that was going on How big of a deal was that back then this was huge now We had gone through a fire in 2003 where we lost quite a few homes up in the north up in Conroe Mountain and we had used Qualcomm Stadium at that particular time as a evacuation center However, when we got to 2007 the fires were much bigger broader covered more area and we had more people to evacuate So this center this stadium became quite a big shelter. I mean by recall at one time We had at least 15,000 or more people here at the shelter. Wow And so where were they put to the this area doesn't seem big enough to hold 15,000 people? No, we utilized the entire stadium What was unique about this place is it has various floors. This was actually in the reception area and You're sitting kind of a ground zero. This is where a lot of supplies came in But where everybody checked in we had a number of boosts up here that Monitored mapping systems throughout the county so folks could keep track of their homes in their area But then what we did is for sleeping arrangements because we used this place for six days We various floors. We use the downstairs covered floors for those with families older People so that they'd have a place to be and then kind of moved it all the way up to the top with tents and Cots that were provided by the military. So the whole place was just covered Did you guys already know how you would utilize this facility for evacuations? Or did you just sort of wing it for lack of a better phrase? It wasn't necessarily a wing We knew that in the 2003 we had some practice because we'd used it for a couple of days I don't really think that we knew that this was gonna last as long as it did So we had to wing some of it so to speak but really what it came down to was the kind of common-sense approach We knew that we had a number of folks here who would need shelter who would need to eat Who would need to find out about their property who would also need to make sure that their kids were taken care of their Dogs and their animals and pets were taken care of because we had a place for that And then addition which was also thrown in is that we used our club floors as hospitals We had over 300 patients. We had a working hospital here at Rockham. Yes So how did was it was it a triage center or was it a full-fledged working? No, what happened in the north part of the city. They had a number of Elderly homes that had to be evacuated and they all had various different maladies and basically what we did is we took over the club floor and changed each one of the clubs into a different type of a Medical environment and so you'll hear from the doctor later How he set that up along with the 24-hour pharmacy and things of that nature to help with the treatment of patients now What we did not do was open it up like a hospital because the hospitals were still open Okay. Okay. This is fascinating Fans come here to watch the Chargers and yet During this fire siege it became really a city unto itself. It became a home We had places where children were being taken care of We had movies playing on in the big screen But what we also had was we knew that as people were start to repopulate their areas They were loss of homes loss of property. We also had on the outside We're ringed with insurance companies. They came in and they set up their trailers So it was a one-stop shop so that once you left here You could be knowing that you could get all your items taken care of in one general area That seems brilliant. It seems simple and simple enough that it was so effective But at the same time it does seem brilliant. It's this weird kind of combination of Genius and common sense. Well, you know the we talk about this all the time I was also an evacuee. Oh, yeah, my home was evacuated So I'm here with folks here and I had nowhere else to go But it's not only my job, but I'm evacuee as well So it what it really came down to and I think there's a big difference when you look at other mega shelters When you have everybody coming here realizing they all have to pitch in they all work together Even the people that are here because of unforeseen reasons it worked out for the best How were you able to manage such a large number of evacuees? Couped up all at once because I remember and I think you do too remember seeing the footage from Katrina Yes, and inside the New Orleans Superdome, right? There are a lot of disgruntled folks in there for good reason, right? You keep things on an even keel here Or were you able to to the degree that you wanted? Yeah, we learned a few things There were some things that we had to take a look at in the after-action report such as taking care of people with various diverse backgrounds Taking look at those who may not speak English or those who come from certain areas So we learned from that as far as if we ever have to do this again We need to make sure that everybody's taken care of but for the most part what we had was a realization that We had plenty of volunteers We had a lot of folks who knew exactly what they needed to do with their various Talents who all came in so we had folks who would work check-in. They were working from the city We had those we had the National Guard who were working our commissary in the parking lot So what it was is you pick on people who have those basic Experiences those who have that knowledge and you put them in the place where they do best It all just seems to come together in one spot where it works. What was the biggest challenge for you? Were you the one who was coordinating the evacuations themselves? No, those would fire department normally does mostly they'll tell law enforcement what areas need to be evacuated So law enforcement will normally move in and tell folks they need to go and then they'll be direction on where to go My job was once they got here was to take care of them once they got here Okay, and I think one of the keys on any type of evacuation center as long as you're taking care of the people's needs The people are going to cooperate. They're going to be there for you. It was interesting here I think one of the biggest complaints in Katrina was that they had nobody to go to Restrooms are getting overflowed. There was no food There was no really good sleeping area security was lax Here we had plenty of security through San Diego Police Department. We had plenty of help from the National Guard None of these the stadium did an outstanding job in maintaining all the facilities here There was not one time that any of these facilities was not running appropriately we also had folks coming in from the city who cleaned out the lot every single day and These were folks from the city who had come in and they parked their trucks right out in the lot So the city didn't just say okay, the stadium can take care of it. No city was actively involved actively involved So it was a it was an overall effort On all parts. Yes to make this a success. Absolutely. So now looking forward This seemed to have worked out very well. Would you agree? You know, it did You know, but the one thing you look for an evacuation site is that you want it to be covered Because the good part is in San Diego We had the fire gone and the one air quality we were worried about and this is an open stadium And so we knew that we weren't going to stay here very long I think a week was probably about the best we could do because the last thing you want to do is take people out Of an environment that's safe put them down in what you think is a safe environment But yet not worry about air quality, especially with all the smoke So we knew we had about a week and I think when you look at what a mega shelter here does a Week would probably be about the best. Okay. So all our planning that we did after that was the development of a mega shelter What do you need? What did we learn from here? What kind of tools will you need? How do you make sure that folks that come here are certified to be? Nurses and things of that nature. So we had to do some make sure your backgrounds are being done on your folks And you have to do it beforehand. You can't wait until the actual incident So all these things are still being done to where we are prepared for the next incident So looking forward, will you use this facility again? You know, I believe it probably would be used My feeling is this is a it says in a central location It gives you the opportunity to move very quickly to get people here get them safe But as time goes on what you want to do is then take a look at where you could move them to where you want say long-term Care and I think what we did is we worked here for about six days and eventually when areas were repopulated We still had a group that could not go home And so what we did is worked with the other shelters that were covered like in Del Mar and we moved folks up there So where was the fire compared to where we are now which direction the fire was up north And up north into the east a little bit and it was it blew From the east to the west. Okay, so were you actually getting smoke in the stadium here? Actually after the winds had stopped Yes, you get the swirling winds around here and the air quality is a little bit difficult It wasn't as bad as 2003 because those fires were actually closer to Qualcomm These fires were actually further north and so we didn't really get huge smoke So we could stay here a little bit longer and not worry too much But yet it still was a problem because you got an open-air stadium that you're trying to make into a shelter Thinking back to that day Okay, now you got it you thinking back. Oh, I can see it perfectly When you would come out here and you would look around and you would see the activity What was going through your mind? You know the biggest thing I worried about on those time was to make sure that everybody was taken care of The one thing that I wanted to do and if you give her go back and take a look at the archives And there was a press conference and what I had told the folks at that time is that you've got enough worries Going on right now about your homes I do not want you to worry about where you're going to sleep. What are you going to eat? What's going to happen in the next two or three days? Our job is to make sure we take care of that so you don't worry about that You can take care of your homes later, but let's worry about let's just make sure we've got you taken care of her right now That was the biggest thing Did you hear of any criticisms? There were there were criticisms. It wasn't necessarily about the care and things of that nature I think the criticisms came later with regard to making sure that everybody had Equal access that was one of the things that was brought up by the ACLU and a few other folks Is that just because somebody lives in a home? That's not the only people there are people who are living in canyons Are those who didn't speak English and so what you cannot do or what you need to do is make sure that they're not Fearful of coming into a shelter and thinking that something else might happen to them That is interesting. I you know, honestly, I don't think I would have ever thought of that I did not think about it at the time, but I do now I mean It's one of them items that I would take a look at if I were to run another mega shelter is that as we start moving people in I want to make sure that we're taking care of all the people that need to be taken care of But to make sure that we've got all the systems in place that take care of language that carry Take care of some cultural differences that make sure that everybody feels they're getting equal access across the board Were there any decisions when you look back now that you wish you would have made a different decision? You know, there was only really one decision that bothered me And I didn't get actually involved in it because it kind of happened and not come up to the command post But we did have an incident where we had folks that were coming in and we had a huge Commissary out on the parking lot, but we were giving things out to people who truly needed them So if you would come by If you were a family you could come in and if you needed blankets or you needed water you needed food We had you just drive through oh and we were taking care of nationally We had National Guard that was kind of helping with along with some of the city employees But we also had people that were taking advantage of it and what had happened at one particular time is there was a group that had come in and eventually Border patrol got involved and I wish that not had not have happened I wish that that had been taken care of a little bit differently So those are things you have to think of The biggest thing is is when you're running a shelter the shelter is open to everybody and everybody needs to be taken care of it And that's the only That's the only thing you really truly need to worry about don't worry about the rest How do you anticipate all those little things the things that didn't occur to you at the time? But how do you anticipate all that you try and do them beforehand? I think one of the things that the one thing that we did use quite consistently here And it works really well as the incident command system Once you put that into place and we started training some city employees and how to do that in the various responsibilities they had Things start to fall in place and people see that the job is actually a little bit easier But the other part is pre-planning you know the one thing that you should tell every city in every county It could happen to you you need to come together and do these Preparations before any of these things happen you can still think of things that might not you know Things are going to happen that you didn't expect but you're more You're better prepared to make those decisions if you've got some pre-planned incident or pre-planned Things in place and pre-planning is the key. It is the key You've already mentioned a number of things that you've learned from that past experience actually the past two experiences Looking forward to the next one What do you what would you be ready for what are you telling these others to be ready for? Maybe there's something you haven't talked about yet. Is there anything else you'd like to kind of pass along? You know the one thing you know we're good with fires. I mean we've had a number of them here But the other thing we have to be really prepared for is something that would be natural or a natural Disaster such as an earthquake there are things that would not be available to us that We're available to us during fires. You know fires were pretty consistent in some of the areas We lost some communications, but we were able to put those back into play But if you had an earthquake or some other type of natural disaster where you you lost Structures or you lost huge areas of communication those are things that you need to have Prepared for in advance because you're not going to be able to figure those things out when it happens You're going to be behind the eight ball. So what I would tell folks is think of your worst Worst environmental hazard that could ever happen and put a plan together for that The second side is take a look at what's happening across the country or in the world right now There could be other things that could happen with some of the other types of man-made Decisions that could cause you difficulty be prepared for those and know the ICS system I'm going to tell you right now if folks are not up to date on ICS are not comfortable using it Get comfortable because it helps you make your decisions better It helps you work with the fire department and other people better But it also makes the organization run a whole lot more smoothly Aids in planning aids and not only in planning But once you start putting things into play and people know what the responsibilities are It makes the decisions a little bit easier and you can hold certain folks accountable for certain things that need to get done And just to clarify You did use the ICS. Oh, absolutely 2007. Oh, absolutely Right off the very bat that was one of the first things we did when we got here was to really put the command structure in place Because we knew that we were not going to be able to use we didn't have enough security here at the time with St. Agil-PD because they were all up in the fires and everything else So we knew we needed to add and that's how National Guard got involved But having that structure in place helped put them into place and get all the resources that we needed We had to feed people three times a day six days in a row There had to be somebody in charge of food 24 hours a day and they had to be working in advance Then we also had logistical needs here at the stadium who was taking care of maintenance So there was a maintenance person here that would take care of all the difficulties You had environmental issues in the parking lot. They had to be taken care of so having that command structure in place Made it easier for me as the incident commander to see that those things were being done. I Think that's a very good point Well-made and I think it's the perfect ending to this interview Bob Kanaske Former evacuation shelter incident commander here at Qualcomm Stadium a whole different picture now than it was back then Big time different. You're back. Say we're sitting in ground zero. This is completely different very interesting All right, sir. Thank you very much for your time. I really appreciate you taking the time and hanging out for us and Sharing your thoughts more than welcome