Wind Storm: Is Glendora Ready For the Big One?

When the , there was a brief moment of panic. Back up generators powered the Police Department, but it sent a high voltage through the system, shutting down everything but emergency lines.

With phone lines down elsewhere in the city, city officials scrambled to communicate plans of actions to city staff. Police dispatchers were overwhelmed with phone calls.

While Glendora Police Chief Rob Castro said city staff worked swiftly to respond to the massive number of calls flooding into City Hall and the Police Department last Thursday, he said there were important lessons learned in case Glendora were to be hit with an emergency of greater magnitude.

City council members commended city staff for their response and clean up following the recent wind storm. But Castro admits Glendora was fortunate -- the level of destruction in Glendora was not nearly as massive as in other surrounding cities.

Although other San Gabriel Valley cities grappled with millions of dollars of damages, Glendora estimated its own . The city council during a special meeting Thursday.

Castro said the Police Department debriefed its own emergency response with L.A. County Fire, the school districts and residents to see how the city can improve on emergency preparedness. What they found were a few areas of improvement.

Glendora Lt. Jamie Caldwell said most of the downtown area where , the and the are located were without power from 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning until 6:30 p.m that evening.

With most of the phone lines down throughout the day, Castro said city staff resorted to communicating plans of action through personal cell phones.

Down phone lines at City Hall and the Police Department left city staff struggling to relay information to concerned residents.

Still, Castro said the city recently approved a new generator that would power City Hall, the Police Department and the Library.

“So that kind of event won’t be likely in the future,” said Castro.

Castro said the number of downed trees and debris throughout the city overwhelmed city staff, and outside contractors were called to help with the clean up.

Athens Trash Service provided extra trash hauling trucks to pick up fallen tree branches and other debris. The city tapped stores such as and for needed supplies.

“I don’t think we knew that many trees can cause an overload to the resources that we have locally, but we were able to reach out and use vendors,” said Castro, adding that the city has looked at developing a plan that would maximize available outside resources.

Castro said the police department was working to develop at least two other emergency operation centers in the city. Currently, the Police Department’s basement is designated as the city’s sole emergency operation center. But when heavy rains flooded the basement a few years ago, Castro said the city decided to find another location.

Bidwell Forum at the is currently being outfitted as a backup emergency operation center.

Castro also cited more emergency training with city staff as an area of focus. Two years ago, the Police Department eliminated an emergency services supervisor position and since then, the city has relied on the extra services of department directors and personnel to perform emergency services duties.

But residents must also prepare themselves in case of a major disaster, said Castro. Los Angeles County has  released information to residents on how to better prepare themselves for the next natural disaster, and also has a mass emergency notification system updating residents through recorded phone messages, e-mails and texts.

“I think we were able to respond to the type of emergency we had in a very quick manner and get all the major trees cleared,” said Castro. “If we were to be hit with another major disaster, we would be better prepared to handle it.”