Eddie Bertola - Owner, Bertola Advisory Services Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Now here in Houston's morning news. All right, the siren idea,
it had been proposed, but it was never acted upon.
According to the Texas Tribune, it was the fight going
on between public officials and what they thought they needed
to keep people safe versus the taxpayers and what they
were willing to spend money on. Joining us as any Bertola,

(00:21):
the owner of Bertola Advisory Services. Let's let's talk about
sirens in general. If there'd been sirens along the Guadalupe River,
how would that system have worked. When would the sirens
go off? Would they go off when a flood warning
was first issued, or would it go off when the
flood when the river got to a certain level.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Great question. Sirens are a local decision, and so you'll
get the flash flood warning from the National Weather Service,
but at the local level, they are the ones to
decide when to activate or choose not to activate the sirens.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Okay, So if the decision had been made to only
activate the sirens, if the river forgot to a certain level,
the sirens might not have been enough to save people
because that river rose so fast.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
You know, sirens are an interesting tool, and they're just
one of many tools that are used to communicate with
a public during an emergency. It has a technical element
and it has a human element. The technical element obviously
you know, do you have enough sirens or they positioned
in a place, But you have the human element of
is the public educated on what to do when they
hear a siren? Because we have tornadoes, we have different

(01:30):
weather events. Are they going to hear a siren and
think I need to go to the center of my
house or seek shelter by going underground, or are they
going to say, you know, I hear the siren, I
need to go you know, high above and there could
be a flash flood. Additionally, there are two types of sirens,
and people use sirens, but specifically two main ones, and

(01:51):
one is the audible tone that we're used to hearing
sometimes in the testing. But the second is one that
actually projects a voice or an actual message, so you
can hear it and it will give direction. So yeah,
two different options.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
How much does the system like that cost? I mean
the Guadadalupe I'm not trying to think about how long
the Guadalupe River is if you were to put and
how how many sirens would you need to install along
a river of that size in order to be able
to make sure that everybody along the river could he
hear a warning message.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
I'm sure it's expensive, and I say that, you know,
looking back, as you talked about Monday morning quarterbacking, is
the price too high?

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Right?

Speaker 2 (02:33):
And now I believe everybody would say no, the price
is not too high. But you have to I also
understand as we get to that technical elements, the purpose
of a siren if you're indoors, isn't to provide you information.
It's generally for those that are outside. It's for those
that are outside walking or on the streets to seek

(02:53):
shelter or do whatever it is that you are trained
to do when you hear a siren. And so if
you're inside a residence, the likelihood of you receiving information
via a siren is actually quite low.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
So it sounds to me. Here's the other issue that
I'd like to address with the Eddie, and that is,
and he kind of brought this up, is you don't
know how people are going to necessarily react to whatever
the morning, whatever the warning message is. For example, it's
come out now that the owner of Camp Mystic was
aware one fourteen of the morning that there had been
a flood flash flood warning that had been issued, and

(03:29):
began having his staff monitor the river and when it
got to a point where he felt like the river
was getting too high, then they started evacuation when the
course it became too late in some cases because the
river just rose so quickly. So again you've got that
human element. It's pretty tough to work around the human element.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
So it's very tough and it's very necessary at the
same time. And that's why when we talk about emergency
communication with the public in any community, it's got to
be a partnership and your local emergency managers, your local
elected officials have to work hand in hand with the
community members, especially if you have areas like camp Mystake

(04:12):
or others which have a dynamic population, which have a
group of people that may not be used to that area,
campers that this is the first time you know, near
a flood zone that may not understand what to do,
and so there is a higher risk and generally just
a higher need to be prepared.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
In your mind, Eddie, is there another system that may
be more cost effective that would also help to alert
people who don't have access to a cell phone or
a radio or a television in order to be able
to know what's going on in a case of an
emergency like this.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
There are multiple tools in that toolbox, and that's where
we get into the responsibility of those that are sending
these alerts to understand that it's not just you know
that wire with emergency alert and radio is the most
resilient method that still exists today to give information out,
you have the Know Weather radio. But on the other side,

(05:11):
you have to have a community that understands there are
multiple ways to get the information and they need to have,
you know, a resilient method if if they are if
they're in an area that doesn't have a good cell
phone coverage that they're not going to receive messages. They
need to also be then tuned into radio because radio
can reach they need to have the know Weather radio
ready to go on. It's it's definitely a two way street,

(05:37):
but I do believe there are methods and a plan
that can be used to help people stay safe.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
Okay, Eddie Bertola, thanks for joining us. Good to talk
to you. I appreciate it. The owner of Bertola Advisory Services,
Eddie Bertola, it is seven twenty eight