July 5, 2005

Present:
Terry Spring-KWPX
Sheli Jones-KBCB
Don White-Tribune Television
Mark Allen-WSAB
Laurel Nelson-King Co. Emergency Management
Ted Buehner-NWS Seattle
Jim Tharp-Entercom
Clay Frienwald-Entercom
Don Miller-WSEM

By Phone:
Art Blum-KONA
Dennis Hull-NWS Pendleton
Bob Wyatt-KSPS
Kris McGowan-FCC
Tyree Wilde-NWS Portland

Clay welcomed the attendees to the meeting and introductions were made.

The PEP network is expanding in Oregon. The Oregon Public Broadcasting network will be used.

There is a plan to let the military tap into The XM satellites in an emergency.

KMPH-TV in Fresno has introduced a text messaging service for cell phones. Using software from Telecat(r), they offer a variety of information, including AMBER alerts and other emergency information. See www.primezone.com/newsroom/?d=80827.

The previous minutes were approved.

The tsunami warning that was issued on 6/14 was discussed. It was only activated along the coast. Several TV stations were concerned because they are watched on the coast, but they did not receive the warning. There are no local TV stations along the Washington and Oregon coast. Also, during an evacuation, people will be headed inland. Emergency managers will need to be prepared for the influx of people. The NWS weather radio will now air tsunami alerts throughout their system. Counties affected will be listed. Stations should program their EAS boxes for their coverage areas if they do not want to air extraneous alerts. The NWS lost their signal path to their Neah Bay and Octopus transmitters, so the tsunami warning did not air in those areas.

TV stations are concerned about the detail in the aural message that must be put into visual form. However, the FCC has not fined any stations for lack of visual information in EAS messages. The fines have been for lack of information in news broadcasts.

In NWS news the AHABS (siren) codes are being added to their Sage box. There will be a meeting on Friday 7/8 of the State Tsunami Working Group. The goal is statewide activation of alerts. Currently it is done by individual counties.

In Spokane, there were two RMT's in June due to a misunderstanding. The Spokane NWS is starting on their "Seattle" project, feeding as many EAS sources as possible to their weather radio transmitters.

In the Tri Cities area, Columbia County (Dayton) is working on being able to activate.

In the North Sound area, KGMI is now able to originate RWT's again. British Columbia was also notifies of the Tsunami Warning, but there is no EAS there. Note the following tsunami warning web sites: www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc and www.wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov .

In the Central Puget Sound area, there is interest in the new HazCollect Plan where NWS takes over NWS. There is some concern, also, that that might not be the best way of doing it.

At WSAB, the AMBER regional meeting will be in Jackson WY. The EAS Summit is still on for February. There is the possibility of a Western Region EAS Summit in August.

Once again, cable participation in the SECC is still needed. Mark is meeting later in July with the Comcast broadcast liaison regarding the cable over ride issue.

Mark Allen reported on the AMBER Review Meeting. Accountability for law enforcement was discussed. The criteria for AMBER alerts needs to be followed. Also, an AMBER Alert from another state cannot be declined without going further up the chain of command.

The FCC will put more information on the TV stations that were fined for lack of visual information on the remailer. The Commission is asking for information from the field in the EAS NPRM.

The Pendleton NWS office is looking in to providing weather information in Spanish for the Yakima, Tri Cities, and Walla Walla urban areas.

As a reminder, you don't need to attend the SECC meetings in person. Phone participation is encouraged for people in other areas of the state. Instructions will be posted before the next meeting. And, once again, we could really use some cable participation.

The next meeting will be on September 1 at 9:30 AM at the Washington State Emergency Management offices at Camp Murray.

Terry W. Spring
Chief Engineer
KWPX Seattle