Mixed Messages

I admit it – I’m a snob. I love where I live. I love how quaint is our little section of Glendale/unincorporated LA County/City of Los Angeles. I’m a little stingy with the information, too; I’m not eager to post giant welcome – come move here – signs here though I love to see people pour onto Honolulu Avenue for Oktoberfest, Taste of Montrose and the Christmas parade.

But with the fires this week, I’m reminded that sometimes being off the radar – in this case, the radar of safety personnel – can be a bad thing.

As a newspaper, we gather information from a variety of sources – local residents and business owners, teachers and other school administrators, and, of course, law enforcement and fire officials. In addition to the press releases that safety personnel issue, a service is often employed by them called Nixle. Part of the service that Nixle provides is sending out notices generated by CHP, fire, police and sheriff departments to alert us as to closures, emergencies, etc. Generally the information we get from Nixle is pretty reliable; after all, it comes from agencies that oversee our communities’ well-being. But this week, the distribution of information was, to say the least, dismal.

For me it came to a head when an alert was issued that evacuations were being made from “La Crescenta to Glenoaks Boulevard.” Because this information came from a Nixle alert, everyone who received the notice panicked because we’re in La Crescenta. Were we supposed to evacuate? What about our children in school? To make matters worse, most of the nearby off-ramps of the 210 Freeway were shut down.

Turns out that it wasn’t La Crescenta per se; it was the “Crescenta Valley” bordering the east, which extends (by some estimations) to Sunland-Tujunga at the 210 Freeway. And Glenoaks Boulevard? That would be out near Sylmar.

Throughout the day on Tuesday, as the winds were pounding our valley and the surrounding areas, tensions were high as people wondered if they were supposed to evacuate.

Understand that I am not faulting Nixle; that would be like being mad at the phone because someone called with bad news. No, it’s the total lack of coordination between the numerous police and fire departments, sheriff’s department and CHP who were sending out confusing information, mainly because no one knew where the heck the Crescenta Valley is.

Confusion continued into Wednesday when Mary O’Keefe attempted to attend a press conference to collect information firsthand. Unfortunately, all roads to the press conference were closed making it impossible for her to get where the conference was being held. And coming back into La Crescenta? A nightmare.

It is reminiscent of when Mary was on Starfall Drive (at the top of Pine Cone) talking to a law enforcement official during the Station Fire. She said she wanted information regarding the fire that was burning in La Crescenta. He insisted that La Cañada and Tujunga were on fire, but there was no fire in La Crescenta. So Mary pointed over his shoulder and said, yes, La Crescenta was indeed on fire.

Sigh.

Sometimes it is really not a good thing to be under the radar.

  robin goldsworthy