Newport Beach City Manager Update:
Emergency Preparedness
By Guest Contributor Grace Leung, Newport Beach City Manager – Sept 11, 2023
Source: Newport Beach Independent – https://www.newportbeachindy.com/newport-beach-city-manager-update-emergency-preparedness-citizens-police-academy/
Grace Leung, Newport Beach City Manager
The fires in Maui and Hurricane Idalia in Florida serve as recent reminders that disasters can strike at any time. Throughout September, which has been designated as National Preparedness Month, the City of Newport Beach will highlight some of our emergency preparedness tools and practices, along with educational resources for residents to become better prepared.
If you are new to emergency planning, or could use a refresher, a great place to start is the “Newport Beach Ready” Emergency Preparedness Guide produced by our Fire Department. The guide contains critical information on water and food storage, building an emergency kit, evacuation checklists, basic first aid, animal preparedness, and tips on what to do in specific events.
The guide is in PDF form to allow for easier printing (we recommend residents print copies as references in the event of a power outage). Access is here: https://www.newportbeachca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/66881/637260787861070000.
The City’s Disaster Preparedness website has additional information and videos on how to prepare for a variety of natural and man-made emergencies, such as earthquakes, fires, tsunamis, storm flooding, power outages, and acts of terrorism. It also includes a list of partner agencies, such as FEMA and b, along with links.
Access it here: https://www.newportbeachca.gov/how-do-i/find/disaster-preparedness-information.
Other helpful resources include the City’s Emergency Operations Plan, which details the City’s response to an emergency event. Access is here: https://www.newportbeachca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/72743/638059324946730000.
The Disaster Communications web page shows how to prepare to contact family and loved ones during an emergency: https://www.newportbeachca.gov/how-do-i/find/disaster-preparedness-information/disaster-communications.
If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to sign up for regional and local emergency notifications.
- Major Newport Beach and countywide emergency alerts will be broadcast through the AlertOC mass notification system, operated by the County of Orange in collaboration with local cities. Through AlertOC, time-sensitive voice messages from the County of Orange or Newport Beach can be sent to your home, cell, or business phone. Text messages can be sent to cell phones. AlertOC can also send messages to email accounts and TTY devices. https://member.everbridge.net/453003085613900/login.
- For Newport Beach emergencies, significant traffic impacts and police activities you can subscribe to the Police Department’s Nixle alerts or, even more simply, text your zip code to 888777 to opt-in. You can configure your Nixle account as desired to receive text messages, emails, and voice mails to cell phones and landlines. https://local.nixle.com/newport-beach-police-department.
- Please note that during a serious emergency, with a need to communicate life-saving information quickly, the City will utilize the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system. The WEA system sends text message alerts to all cell phones within a designated geographic area, with no sign-up or subscription required. Because it reaches all cell phones, residents and visitors alike, WEA is a critical component of the City’s emergency alert systems.
if you would like in-depth training on emergency preparedness, along with hands-on first aid and rescue techniques, consider joining Newport Beach’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program, taught by City firefighters and lifeguards. The CERT training is designed to help residents assist themselves, their families and neighbors in the event of a major disaster where first responders may not be immediately available. You can go here for more information on CERT: https://www.newportbeachca.gov/government/departments/fire-department/life-safety-services-division/community-emergency-response-team-nbcert.
Outdoor Broadcast System Gives Emergency Warnings in Coastal Areas
Throughout National Preparedness Month, the City will highlight some of its emergency systems and practices. First up: the City’s Outdoor Warning Notification System.
The Outdoor Warning Notification System consists of three loudspeakers strategically located at West Jetty View Park (Wedge), Marina Park on Balboa Boulevard, and West Newport Park near 60th Street and Seashore Drive.
The system will be used to notify coastal neighborhoods and boaters in the event of a tsunami, major flooding, or other emergencies, including the need for evacuations. During an emergency event, the Newport Beach Police Department will activate the system and provide instructions through the loudspeakers, which are audible throughout the mapped areas shown below.
The system is tested on the first Friday of every month to ensure it is in a constant state of readiness. The next test of the system will be Friday, October 6 at noon.
Source: Newport Beach Independent – https://www.newportbeachindy.com/newport-beach-city-manager-update-emergency-preparedness-citizens-police-academy/
A public swimming pool complex to include a 50-meter pool, a therapy pool, a splash pad and a building for events is moving closer to reality and could become the city’s next successful public-private partnership.
Recently, the Newport Beach City Council approved a change to the city’s general plan that allows the area at Lower Castaways Park to be zoned for development and accommodate the facility.
Having sold four of the five highest-priced Newport Harbor waterfront homes during his 24-year sales career, Coldwell-Banker realtor Tim Smith has been “cleaning up,” but not in the way you might think.
An avid fisherman (he owns a Boston Whaler Realm 38’) and Dover Shores resident who “loves this harbor,” Smith has been focused on how he can help make the bay as clean as possible.
It’s surprising what you can find at the bottom of Newport Harbor.
Bicycles, toolboxes, traffic cones, even a boat. There’s lots of plastic and things that have fallen off boats—not that boaters are dumping stuff deliberately; they just wind up in the harbor.
On one memorable occasion, a diver found a gun. “We informed the police and they said don’t touch it,” explained boatman Guy Harden. “Two divers stayed there until the police showed up, saying the gun was part of an investigation. We never heard anything about it after that, sorry to say.”
The City of Newport Beach celebrated two significant milestones in Newport Harbor on Wednesday, August 27: opening a new public dock and welcoming the first electric patrol vessel in the Harbor Department fleet.
The new VITA Seal electric boat is also the first all-electric work vessel delivered to any public agency in the United States.
The Newport Harbor Underwater Cleanup, in partnership with the City of Newport Beach, has announced the 4th Annual Newport Harbor Underwater Cleanup scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 21 at Marina Park in Newport Beach.
Launched in 2017 by Help Your Harbor’s founders—former Newport Beach mayor Marshall “Duffy” Duffield and local environmentalists Billy Dutton and Mark Ward — NHUC hosted three years of sold-out cleanup events at the Balboa Bay Club before being put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re thrilled to expand this year’s event at our new location,” says Billy Dutton, co-founder of NHUC and Help Your Harbor. “The Newport Marina Park site allows for much greater community participation, with volunteers helping to clean up our harbor both above and below the water. The addition of the International Coastal Cleanup Day celebration at Marina Park that afternoon will bring together over two dozen organizations and their volunteers, all committed to protecting our precious marine environment.”
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