CARNATION, Wash. — Leaders with the City of Carnation are urging the City of Seattle to fix the Tolt Dam early warning system to keep residents safe after six false alarms happened in the past three years.
Seattle Public Utilities controls the Tolt Dam. The reservoir provides drinking water to around 500,000 people in Seattle and its surrounding areas, but not Carnation.
PRESS CONFERENCE:
Leaders of the City of Carnation and non-profit organizations held a press conference at Nick Loutsis Park on Entwistle Street Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.
Messages and thoughts expressed at the event were filled with frustration and concerns.
“All of our citizens are suffering from some level of PTSD,” said Mayor of Carnation Jim Ribail. “It’s one of my biggest concerns because when that alarm goes off people are actually pausing and saying, ‘Is this really an alarm? Should I really evacuate?’”
KIRO 7 asked Mayor Ribail about the causes behind the false alerts.
“We’ve had several different explanations on the different ones, but each turn, there’s a different reason for the false alarm,” he said.
We also asked Ribail about the number of times he had reached out to the City of Seattle within the past years to address the issue.
“Lost count,” he said.
Ribail said the latest system installed by the City of Seattle does not work correctly to keep residents safe.
Residents were able to hear the alerts - with the prior system - from inside their homes, he added, however, many people now have a difficult time with the latest technology.
Sabrina Warren, transportation supervisor with Riverview School District, which has more than 3,000 students, recalled the past false alarms.
“I was here the day we had the false alarm in the summertime, and it was pandemonium in the city,” she said. “There was chaos in the streets. The system kept going off, over and over again, saying it was a breach. People in the City of Carnation were in hysterics. They were driving over people’s lawns. They were carrying pets. They were carrying belongings because they never thought they would be able to come back to their homes.”
When asked about the new system, Warren said, “Our building (school), we actually have to step out on Wednesdays at 12 O’clock to actually hear that alarm system right here.” She added, “It panics me or scares me because I feel like this has gone on for a really long time. And this is a serious business we have out here. We have lives. This is a community in the Snoqualmie Valley. And our students, and our staff and our community members are important.”
SENIOR CENTER:
To better understand the new system’s impact, KIRO 7 News spoke with Kira Avery, executive director of Sno-Valley Senior Center, located on Stephens Avenue.
She remembered the terrifying moment when she and her organization heard the first false alarm in July of 2020.
“Scared. Scared for all of the people that we know who live here who might not have the easiest way to get out of town.” She added, “They were really scared.”
The senior center sees on average 1,200 people a year, with up to 80 people a day.
“We’re supposed to have this new system that’s supposed to work, and we barely hear it at the senior center anymore,” she said.
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When a test alarm sounded off in the City of Carnation on Wednesday at 12 p.m., Reed Larson, a senior member of the center, said, “I didn’t hear it.”
However, he understands the risks of the new system and if the dam were to break.
“That’s going to be tough if water is going to come rushing. They’re (senior members at the center) going to die. People are going to die,” he said.
“It kind of scares me for other people. I got a lot of friends here.” He added, “I have friends here, and I love these people. They’re good people.”
Aletha Littlefield, another senior member of the center, said the false alarms have sent a dangerous message to the community.
“With these false alarms, we’re not taking it serious.” She added, “It puts everyone on edge. We can’t trust the system.”
She stressed to the City of Seattle to, “Make it safe for Carnation to be able to stay here, live here without fear.”
CITY OF SEATTLE:
KIRO 7 News reached out to the Seattle Mayor’s office. We’re still waiting to hear back.
We also reached out to Seattle Public Utilities.
A spokesperson declined our interview request. She shared the following statement after KIRO 7 News had asked for clarifying details on SPU’s original statement.
“On October 18, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) fulfilled its promise to the Carnation community to fully transition to the new Early Tolt Dam Early Warning System. The new alarm system, currently in use, provides the same service and functionality as the system it replaced, but with more modern and reliable components. Based on feedback from residents on the new warning system, we continue to make improvements to the system’s sound volume and quality, including upgrading all speakers, speaker amplifiers and re-recording voice messages.
We are working to complete these additional improvements as quickly as possible. We expect all three items to be completed by January 2024. There is also a Phase II to this project which expands the capabilities of the alerting system beyond the original system. These enhancements include additional indoor alerting devices, new static signs, and highway message signs, and we expect this phase to be completed by the end of 2024.”
The spokesperson also said that Seattle Public Utilities has worked with its emergency management partners and enhanced current protocols to include updated communication, including:
- Text alert notifications for residents, should another false alarm happen
- A “the dam is safe” announcement broadcast (in English and Spanish), should another false alarm happen
- Direct communications to the City of Carnation
- Assistance with the City of Carnations’ social media updates
The spokesperson also said SPU is working to ensure safety with the following measures:
- 24/7 surveillance and monitoring of the dam
- Daily visual inspections and instrument readings
- Safety and security plan
- Periodic engineering, federal and independent inspections
- Emergency action plan
The early warning system cost taxpayers around $10 million.
When asked what may be causing the false alarms, SPU said the early warning system, prior to the October 18 update, was last updated in 1993.