9. The Emergency Operations Center Police Field Commander will determine the need for additional personnel and will direct subordinates to implement callout procedures as necessary. He will request the California Highway Patrol to provide officers for traffic and crowd control pending the arrival of off-duty members of the Oakland Police Department. 10. The Police Field Commander will ensure that personnel and equipment from City departments and outside agencies are properly billetted. The names and agencies of all disaster personnel will be recorded and records relative to time and equipment usage must be maintained by persons in charge of the agencies. All such records will be submitted to the Police Field Commander upon termination of emergency operations. 11. The Police Field Commander will designate a public information officer to ensure orderly activities by representatives of the public media and to provide a reasonable flow of information to the general public. 12. The staff of Highland General Hospital will establish a field emergency treatment room in Building R at Merritt College. Notification of the hospital staff will be made by Communications Section personnel in conformance with the provisions listed in Phase I of this report. 13. The Police Field Commander will evaluate the need for additional police personnel and will advise the Chief of Police when police mutual aid resources are required. 14. The Police Field Commander will report the status of emergency operations on a regular basis to the Coordinator of Disaster Planning (Chief of Police) and the City Manager. PHASE III-EVACUATION: Because some 16,000 persons reside in 5,500 residences in the area between Broadway Terrace and Redwood Road north of the Warren Freeway, zones were established and corresponding evacuation centers designated. The zones are: Zone I West of Broadway Evacuation Center II West of Park Boulevard and East of Oakland Technical High School Road 4351 Broadway 3233 Park Boulevard IV Joaquin Miller Road to Redwood Bret Harte Junior High School 8601 MacArthur Boulevard The decision to evacuate a particular area of the hills will be made by the Chief Officer in charge of the fire. If practical, decisions to evacuate should be made by zone (s) and will be communicated to the Police Field Commander. 1. The Police Field Commander will notify the San Francisco office of the Californa Highway Patrol to implement their News Media Hotline and will provide the California Highway Patrol with necessary evacuation information for immediate broadcast by 18 subscriber radio and TV stations. 2. The Police Field Commander will notify Oakland School District Security Officers to vacate the designated evacuation centers of students. School Security officers will be dispatched to designated evacuation centers and will remain at the locations to coordinate operations with the Emergency Operations Center. 3. The Police Field Commander will notify the Alameda County Sheriff's Department to implement its Emergency Action Notification System for radio broadcasts of emergency messages to five local radio stations. 4. The Police Field Commander will dispatch two speaker vehicles, one speaker truck and the helicopters, which are equipped with sound systems, to the area to be evacuated to deliver appropriate evacuation orders. 5. The American Red Cross will implement "Mass Care Centers" at each of the designated evacuation centers as necessary. Necessities such as food, clothing, blankets and first aid treatment will be available. 6. The Police Field Commander will assign officers to strategic locations to facilitate vehicular and pedestrian traffic flow and, to the extent possible, provide for the orderly movement of evacuees to evacuation centers. 7. The Police Field Commander will direct security operations in the hill area during the period residences are vacant and will assess personnel needs and request necessary assistance from outside resources. Schools The Oakland Unified School District is developing a "Fire Crisis Evacuation Plan." Each school in the hill area is planning for evacuation in the event of a major hill area fire and the total school planning project is being coordinated by Mr. Robert Bignami. Each school evacuating students to a student evacuation center is responsible for: 1. Designating an assembly area to which students can be moved on foot. The assembly point must be a sufficient distance from the fire threat area and near main thoroughfares to allow for bus accessibility. 2. Providing for sufficient numbers of faculty and other adults to monitor and control students. Notification that a major fire threat is imminent in the hills will be made to School Security by the Communications Section supervisor. The Oakland Public Schools staff will: 1. Notify A/C Transit to dispatch buses to predetermined individual school assembly areas. 2. Supervise the transportation of students from assembly areas to predetermined student evacuation centers, which will be separate facilities from evacuation centers previously listed in this report. 3. Remain with students until the arrival of parents at the student evacuation centers. 4. School Security officers will be assigned to student evacuation centers to facilitate orderly emergency operations. When the decision to evacuate schools in the hill area is made, the Police Field Commander will assign motorcycle officers to escort walking groups of students to assembly areas. PHASE IV-Post Fire Operations: 1. The Police Field Commander will continue security operations in affected areas in the hills, ensuring that a sound program of restricted access and looting control continues until such time as deemed reasonable and appropriate by the Chief of Police. 2. The Police Field Commander will be responsible for discontinuing Emergency Operations Center operations and will provide the Peralta Junior College District with an accounting of supplies, food, and other items used by disaster personnel during the fire emergency. 3. The Police Field Commander will provide a thorough written report of emergency operations to the Chief of Police. MISCELLANEOUS 1. Arrangements are being made for all disaster and volunteer worker groups to report to the Emergency Operations Center where their names will be recorded, assignments made and adequate supervision provided. 2. The Police Department has obtained necessary operations maps and other Emergener Operations Center supplies and has a truck adequately stocked and prepared to respond immediately to the Emergency Operations Center site upon notice of a hill fire. 3. We are presently designing a warning notice that will be placed on unlawfully parked vehicles and vehicles lawfully parked on narrow streets restricting access of fire apparatus to certain areas. Motorcycle squads and patrol officers will concentrate on the problem during the next month in an effort to educate residents to park their vehicles off the streets. Mr. HILDEBRAND. The freeze of 1972 did damage to the botanical gardens at the University of California of $200.000, brought about a property loss to the amount of $4 million, has done extensive watershed damage to the degree that the Alameda Board of County Supervisors sitting as the flood-control district have authorized predisaster work, and has created an unprecedented fire hazard. Adding to the fire problem is our unusual weather which has increased ground fuels on its own. Our ground fuels have been added to by the falling limbs of trees and so forth from the eucalyptus trees, and of course the publicity will increase the knowledge of the area to those persons who are inclined to set fires. I would like to point out to you the figures posted on the wall. These have been gathered by the advisory committee, and should be considered extremely conservative. I feel that we can support these figures without question. The first figure of $20 million represents a loss to the total area. Now we must understand that when we discuss the eucalyptus tree. it has no value except the value of removal and removal of ground fuels. Based on our present figures, this is a very conservative estimate of $20 million to correct the immediate hazard of ground fuel removal and tree removal. I would say this figure is going to increase very rapidly as time goes on and we get more bid estimates in. The high bid estimate at this time is approximately $27,000 per acre for removal of trees. None of this bears on the private sector of the economy. The second figure of $4 million is property value losses. The valne of the privately owned property is reduced, we figure, about $4 million a year-rather, $4 million. The next figure of $1 million is an estimate of expenditures by the State of California both for the work to combat the effects of the disaster and for the work they had to do on their own properties, freeways, and other properties. So we are estimating, and conservatively so, damages in the sum of $25 million, and we anticipate that this figure will increase, and it is conceivably possible that the cost will exceed $50 million. That was an estimate, and I would ask it be treated so. At the present time, based on available funds, local jurisdictions have contributed approximately $3.200,000 to combat the effect of the disaster. In some cases this will work a hardship on the community, and I will defer to other members of the panel to explain that to you. Senator CRANSTON. Thank you very much. I would like at this point before proceeding, to welcome Northcutt Ely as another member of this panel. Mr. Ely is the Washington attorney for East Bay Municipal Utilities District. We are delighted to have you, and we are delighted to have East Bay M.U.D.'s representation here. Mr. TRUDEAU. With that, we are open for questions, sir. STATEMENT OF NORTHCUTT ELY, WASHINGTON ATTORNEY FOR EAST BAY MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICT Mr. ELY. Mr. Chairman, I have placed in the record a statement by Mr. Jack Harnett, who is the general manager of East Bay Municipal Utility District, and my own opinion rendered Mr. Harnett under date of May 8 with respect to the legal authority of OEP to give the assistance requested. I shall speak simply to the legal point. It would appear to me. Senator Cranston, that an event which has caused $25 million in damage and that may reach $50 million, as the testimony indicates, it qualifies as a major disaster. That is to say, the freeze that has already occurred, whether or not a fire ever happens, and we are not restricted to speculating as to the probability of the arsonist or lighting hitting these trees. The disaster has already occurred. If this had been a hurricane or flood leaving this debris, which the trees are, then under section 224 Federal authority is available to spend Federal money to clean up the debris. This debris is heavily oil laden and is subject to fire, and right in suburban areas that are heavily populated. To my mind, section 225 is directly relevant. It gives specific authority for the expenditure of Federal funds for the "suppression" of fires. By that language the President is authorized to provide assistance including grants to any State for the suppression of any fire in publicly or privately owned forests or grasslands which threatens such destruction as would constitute a major disaster. Fires are in a category by themselves, and I think the word "suppression" has to be narrowly construed, meaning, as I understand it, restricted to a fire actually raging. I would suppose if you have authority to spend money to cut down trees if there is a fire burning, you have authority to cut down trees to prevent it getting started, when they are dead trees-and of the magnitude involved here and heavily laden with oil, as Eucalyptus trees are. I have no difficulty in finding the statutory authority for the administration to give this assistance that is requested. I have been rather surprised to learn from those who attended the meetings here a few weeks ago that contrary to testimony given here today, that 1 week was indeed mentioned as a test of imminence, that you had to be reasonably certain the disaster would occur within a week to qualify. Senator CRANSTON. Where did you get this information from? Mr. ELY. I did not attend the meetings, but I understand the OEP gave instructions to some of the experts who entered the conference that "imminent" meant a certainty of occurrence of a disaster or the high probability of its occurring within 1 week. Well, that, of course, is a ridiculous test for a fire. You undoubtedly recall the famous story of the Federal official who shipped goods out of a San Francisco warehouse by express on April 16, 1906, the earthquake fire occurring on April 17. The auditor refused to pay the bill. He said they should have been sent by freight, not express. But the Government official said he had to get them out ahead of the earthquate which occurred the next day, and on that basis the bill was promptly paid. I don't think you have to know the date when the fire might occur. The date may not be known, but the certainty of disaster is known as long as you leave those dead trees standing. Senator CRANSTON. Could you give us any help in turning that hearsay that ties in with some information that we have that OEP does operate with a working definition of 1 week? If we could help establish that fact, I think it would be very significant? Mr. ELY. Let me ask the gentleman who told me this privately if I would be breaking confidence to quote him and give his name. Senator CRANSTON. Will you do that and communicate with me? Mr. ELY. Yes, I will. I will ask how I can substantiate it. Senator CRANSTON. Thank you very much. [Material supplied by Mr. Ely follows:] Mr. JOHN S. HARNETT, East Bay Municipal Utility District, 2130 Adeline Street, Oakland, Calif. NORTHCUTT ELY, WATERGATE SIX HUNDRED BUILDING, DEAR MR. HARNETT: You have requested our opinion as to the statutory authority of the federal administration to provide financial assistance to local area governmental bodies and agencies in the East Bay area to remove some two million eucalyptus trees on public and private property, killed in the unprecedented December 1972 freeze. We understand that these dead trees, because of their extremely flammable nature, pose a serious fire hazard which could result in catastrophic loss of life and property. To reduce the possibility of such a major disaster, these dead eucalyptus trees must be removed immediately. Federal financial assistance, we understand, has been denied by the Office of Emergency Preparedness on the grounds of lack of statutory authority. Local resources have been utilized to the maximum extent possible to accomplish this essential removal process. This effort, while considerable, will not be sufficient. The Governor of California has properly declared this a disaster and applied to the President for assistance under the Disaster Relief Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-606, 84 Stat. 1744). The Act in Section 225 provides as follows: "FIRE SUPPRESSION GRANTS "SEC. 225. The President is authorized to provide assistance, including grants, to any State for the suppression of any fire on publicly or privately owned forest or grassland which threatens such destruction as would constitute a major disaster." Section 224 authorizes use of federal funds for debris removal. These provisions clearly authorize the President to assist state and local authorities in the removal of the dead eucalyptus trees where, as here, destruction by fire amounting to a major disaster is threatened. The decision by OEP not to recommend federal assistance is based, as we understand it, on its contention of lack of authority under Sections 102 and 221 of the Act. Section 102 (1) provides: "(1) 'major disaster' means any hurricane, tornado, storm, flood, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, earthquake, drought, fire or other catastrophe in any part of the United States, which in the determination of the President, is or threatens to be of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant disaster assistance by the Federal Government to supplement the efforts and available resources of States, local governments, and relief organizations in alleviating the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering caused thereby, and with respect to which the Governor of any State in which such catastrophe occurs or threatens to occur certifies the need for Federal disaster assistance under this Act and gives assurance of the expeniture of a reasonable amount of the funds of such State, its local governments, or other agencies for alleviating the damage, loss, hardship or suffering resulting from such catastrophe;" OEP thinks the freeze, while a serious matter, does not come within the definition of "major disaster." A "major disaster", OEP claims, is a condition precedent to authorization to provide assistance under the Act's other provisions. Section 221 provides for predisaster assistance as follows: "Sec. 221. If the President determines that a major disaster is imminent, he is authorized to use Federal departments, agencies, and instrumentalities, and all other resources of the Federal Government to avert or lessen the effects of such disaster before its actual occurrence." (Emphasis added.) OEP feels the "imminency" element is missing in your situation and hence that no authority exists to provide assistance. Thus, OEP asserts lack of statutory authority to provide assistance under Sections 102 and 221 while ignoring its clear authority to provide assistance under Section 225, discussed above. Section 225 is conclusive, in our opinion. It appears clear that OEP's decision not to assist is one of policy and not one required by lack of statutory authority. |