Emergency Alerts Explained: Marin County’s Approach to Tsunami Warnings, WEA, and Public Safety Communication

In this episode of The Alerting Authority, hosts Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola sit down with Steve Torrance, Director of Emergency Management for Marin County, California, to explore how one of the nation’s most complex communities handles emergency alerts and warnings.

Marin County faces a unique mix of risks — including earthquakes, wildfires, floods, tsunamis, power outages, and infrastructure failures — while also serving a constantly changing population of commuters, tourists, and vacation renters. Steve Torrance explains how his team approaches wireless emergency alerts (WEA), mass notification systems, and multi-channel alerting strategies to ensure critical information reaches people who may not live in the county — or even speak the same language.

A major focus of this conversation is Marin County’s real-world response to the December 2024 Northern California tsunami warning, where a countywide WEA was issued even though only a small portion of the area was at actual risk. Steve breaks down the challenges of public panic, geographic clarity, and rapid information sharing — and why local knowledge is irreplaceable when national alerts go out.

You’ll also hear about:

• The importance of the “first mile” before an alert is ever sent
• Training first responders and dispatchers to request effective alerts
• Why templates matter (and how Marin developed 90+ alert templates)
• Reaching older adults, tourists, and non-English speakers
• Using Nextdoor, social media, sirens, EAS, phone calls, and text alerts together
• The future of alerts: multilingual messaging, smart devices, and alerting beyond phones
• Why emergency alerting should become a standalone profession

This episode is essential listening for emergency managers, public information officers (PIOs), alerting authorities, public safety professionals, researchers, and policymakers looking to improve how alerts are written, approved, and delivered.

This episode is sponsored by HQE Systems, a disabled veteran-owned provider of cutting-edge alert origination software, mass notification systems, and outdoor warning solutions.