Calabasas website, CTV inform both city and nation about pending danger




ON THE AIR—Karlo  Gorgin,  left,  and  Scott  Erickson man the controls at the Calabasas CTV communications center during the recent fire. The city gave live updates throughout the day.

ON THE AIR—Karlo Gorgin, left, and Scott Erickson man the controls at the Calabasas CTV communications center during the recent fire. The city gave live updates throughout the day.


The recent hurricanes proved many Americans were unprepared for a major disaster. But when last week fire struck, Calabasas was more than ready, officials said.

The city immediately set up a command center at Calabasas City Hall. City staff, council members and fire officials manned the building. Workers kept current on events and opened the lines of communication between the various police and fire agencies, the city and the community.

“Our city media department began putting fire updates on our website and CTV (Calabasas’ cable access Channel 3) at about 3:30 p.m. on Wed., Sept. 28, about an hour after the fire started,” said Calabasas Media Operations Director Deborah Steller. “Anytime there’s a fire north of Calabasas, particularly when the Santa Ana winds are blowing, we’re very concerned and keep a close eye on it.”

City staff and council members also traveled through the Calabasas neighborhoods to make sure that the information at the command center matched actual events, said Barry Groveman, Calabasas mayor.

“We were able to relay any concerns if we had any,” Groveman said. “The city manager (Tony Coroalles) suggested to me that we drive neighborhood by neighborhood. He believed that no matter how much data or information we were getting at the command center, nothing would substitute for firsthand viewing.”

News was communicated immediately to the city’s med i a department, t o the website a t www.cityofcalabasas.com, to CTV and e-newsletters recipients. Since the fire, the Calabasas media department has gained over 60 new subscribers to the e-newsletters, according to Steller.

“(We had a) website that was complimented by NBC News in New York all the way to the assistant to the governor,” Groveman said. “They made it their point to tell me that everybody in the area was relying on the Calabasas website for information.”

Our role was to disseminate information often, accurately and in a calm manner,” said Groveman, who also pointed out that the city benefited from an effective brush clearance program during the past year.

And about 10 years ago, citizens formed CERP, the Calabasas Emergency Response Program, an all-volunteer program that assists residents during emergencies.

The recent hurricanes prompted the city to reevaluate the program and make sure it worked. The fire last week gave the volunteers a chance to finetune their emergency preparedness skills.

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