One of the problems with a city's disaster response plan is that often, city officials and emergency personnel don't get to test it until there's a real disaster. That wasn't the case Tuesday when a gas pipeline exploded, killing five workers and sending a column of flames and thick black smoke billowing into the sky.
Emergency response was swift and smooth, authorities said, even when plans required a few rapid readjustments. "We train for this stuff all the time," said Walnut Creek police Lt. Steve Skinner.
Walnut Creek police coordinated an effort that drew safety personnel from several other jurisdictions, as fire engines and ambulances screamed to the site, law enforcement officers from all over central county poured into the city, and staffs at John Muir Medical Center and Kaiser hospital went on full alert, ready to treat anything from severe burns to neighbors with a bad case of the nerves.
That doesn't mean that there weren't a few hitches. Cell phones were overloaded, and area schools had to amend evacuation plans to put some distance between the students and the burning pipeline. But for the most part, city leaders, emergency workers, school officials and community members said they were pleased with how the disaster was handled.
After the blast, nearby Las Lomas High and Murwood Elementary schools were evacuated, sending kids home or to an American Red Cross center in Civic Park, and officers fanned out in neighborhoods to make sure everybody had cleared out. Meanwhile, the county's hazardous materials crew, the Army Corps of engineers, and state, county and city inspectors headed out to begin assessing damage and site safety.
Cathy Pardieck, a nurse at Las Lomas, was one of several school employees who stayed behind to help treat the men injured in the blast when they ran toward the campus after the explosion. She had "tremendous respect" for all the emergency workers who responded to the scene.
"I didn't know there were that many ambulances in Contra Costa County," she said.
In a letter Thursday, Las Lomas principal Pat Lickiss praised school employees, students and parents for their "cooperation and calmness" during Tuesday's disaster. Lickiss said the blast taught them that even good emergency plans may need "instant modifications."
In its original emergency plans, Las Lomas students are told to shelter in place or head to the athletic fields. However, because the pipeline runs just beyond the fields, and there was still fear it might explode, students were told to go to the front parking lot, and were sent home half an hour later. Police shut down the campus completely around 5 p.m.
Murwood Elementary also had to change its evacuation plan. As flames shot up behind a back wall in the playground, students were told over a TV broadcast system to file out to the front lawn -- a reversal of the usual drill, Principal Charla Bennett said.
Murwood parent Sheila Patrose said she was so pleased with the school's response that she won't worry as much if next time if she can't reach her children immediately during a crisis.
"I don't think I'll be as panicked next time if I can't get here. Sure, there were kids who were upset, kids who were crying -- but they were listening," said Patrose.
While Walnut Creek City Manager Mike Parness was pleased by the overall emergency response, he said the overloaded cell phones were a concern. "It didn't impede our ability to respond, but raised a red flag that maybe we better pay attention to this," he said. "In a larger emergency, we might need to have backup plans."
The phones' two-way feature still worked, and Nextel had extra radios and a "cell on wheels" unit to boost reception at the site in an hour, said assistant city manager Kevin Safine.
When the city meets in the next few weeks to talk about its response to the disaster, cell phones will be one of the discussion topics, he said.
Walnut Creek established a disaster committee in the 1950s, part of a nationwide effort to gear up for the Cold War, and the first written plan was produced in the 1980s with periodic updates, said Gayle Melvin, chairwoman of the city's disaster task force. It is in the middle of an update now that will be finished by early next year, she said.
