The San Leandro City Council held an “Emergency Preparedness” community forum on the evening of February 5th to address the major gas leak incident by PG&E last December. The forum aimed to gather residents’ feedback on improving the city’s alert and emergency response systems.
The forum, hosted jointly by Alameda County Supervisor Lena Tam and San Leandro Mayor Juan Gonzalez III, saw the participation of officials from the Alameda County Fire Department, San Leandro Police Department, city manager, emergency service commissioners, Alameda County Sheriff’s Office emergency management officer, Alameda County Public Works Department, and representatives from the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD). Additionally, around 60 residents attended the forum.
The forum began with a review of the major gas leak incident by PG&E on December 29, 2024, and the response measures taken. At 3:54 a.m. that day, staff detected a gas leak near 747 Lewelling Blvd. After investigation, it was found that a six-inch natural gas pipeline inside the Lewelling Blvd. culvert had ruptured.
By 6:14 a.m., the county and city governments unified the command center and ordered the evacuation of 5 Genasys zones, impacting around 12,500 individuals, and sent out alerts through the Nixle and Genasys Protect systems. Ultimately, PG&E lifted the evacuation order at 9:32 a.m., allowing residents to return home.
During the subsequent resident question session, some residents expressed gratitude towards the prompt notifications and shelter services provided by the San Leandro City Council, while others complained about not receiving any notifications. Some residents mentioned that in the early hours of the morning, many were still asleep and didn’t notice the phone alerts until they received calls from neighbors about the urgent evacuation. Additionally, many relied on platforms like Nextdoor and Facebook for information but faced delays in getting responses to their queries.
Furthermore, residents highlighted concerns about elderly individuals who rely on landline phones, don’t check text messages or emails, can’t hear knocks on the door, and have limited mobility. Chinese resident Melissa Wang expressed her worries about the safety of Chinese elders who don’t speak English, can’t drive, and struggle to react swiftly during emergencies.
At the forum, residents put forward several suggestions, including providing multilingual alert information to ensure that residents of different languages can understand emergency instructions promptly. They also proposed adjusting the types of alert sounds to clearly differentiate between different situations, such as one sound indicating “evacuate immediately” and another signaling “shelter in place.”
Mayor Gonzalez told Epoch Times that the forum not only helped residents understand evacuation procedures but also enabled the city council to listen to valuable suggestions from the community. Overall, residents were satisfied with the city’s response measures, but there is a commitment to further improvements to better serve the community.
The forum concluded after over an hour. Due to time constraints, Supervisor Lena Tam encouraged residents to continue providing feedback through subsequent channels to enhance emergency response mechanisms.