In Part II of our deep dive into the groundbreaking RAND national alerting study, we go beyond the headline stat that 91% of Americans received the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) and uncover the real story: who didn’t—and why it matters.

Host Jeannette Sutton is joined again by RAND researchers Rachel Steratore and Andy Parker to explore critical gaps in emergency alert systems, including:

• Why rural communities are less likely to receive alerts
• How age, device type, and mobile carriers impact delivery
• The surprising truth about opt-out behavior (especially among younger and lower-income users)
• The role of awareness, trust, and alert fatigue in public response
• How disability, language, and accessibility factor into alert effectiveness
• Why “sending the alert” doesn’t guarantee people actually receive—or act on—it

This episode also tackles one of the biggest unanswered questions in emergency communication: Do alerts actually lead to action?

You’ll hear insights on:

• The difference between receiving, understanding, and acting on alerts
• How risk perception (fear vs. familiarity) shapes behavior
• Why education and public awareness are major missing pieces
• The future of alerting across devices (phones, watches, smart tech, and more)
• What the next generation of research must focus on

If you’re an emergency manager, public safety professional, researcher, or just someone curious about how alerts work during real crises—this episode is essential listening.

👉 Watch Part I first for the full context of the RAND study
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In this gripping episode of The Alerting Authority, hosts Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola sit down with Eric Queller, Emergency Manager for the mountain community of Ruidoso, to unpack one of the most intense wildfire response operations in recent memory.

What began as a routine fire-weather day on June 17, 2024, quickly escalated into a fast-moving disaster as the South Fork and Salt Fires ignited within the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI), threatening thousands of residents and tens of thousands of seasonal visitors. Within hours, a quiet mountain town of 7,000 surged into crisis mode—with a population nearing 90,000 during peak tourist season.

Eric provides a vivid, moment-by-moment account of the day everything changed: from the first call reporting smoke in Upper Canyon, to hearing elite firefighting crews forced to retreat due to extreme fire behavior, to the realization that this was no ordinary incident—but a worst-case scenario unfolding in real time.

Listeners are taken inside the Emergency Operations Center as it rapidly escalates from routine monitoring to full Level 1 activation. Eric recounts the weight of critical decisions, including issuing a rare and urgent “GO NOW” evacuation alert that ultimately led to the full evacuation of Ruidoso—something the town had never practiced at scale.

This episode dives deep into the realities of modern emergency management, including:

-The challenges of protecting a high-risk Wildland-Urban Interface community

-Managing a dynamic population with tens of thousands of tourists unfamiliar with local risks

-The strengths and limitations of the Ready, Set, Go framework—and why it may fall short in real-world scenarios

-How clear, plain-language alerts can cut through confusion and save lives
The importance of multi-channel alerting systems, including IPAWS, Wireless

-Emergency Alerts, NOAA Weather Radio, AM/FM broadcasting, and even door-to-door notifications

-The role of local infrastructure—like Ruidoso’s own government-run radio station—in delivering trusted, continuous communication during crisis

Eric also shares the emotional and operational intensity of working nearly four straight days without rest, coordinating with state officials, and making high-stakes decisions with incomplete information—all while the fire spread rapidly across rugged terrain.

Beyond the fire itself, the conversation foreshadows the cascading disasters that often follow wildfires, including flash flooding risks in burn-scarred landscapes—highlighting why emergency management doesn’t end when the flames go out.

This episode is both a masterclass in crisis communication and a sobering reminder of how quickly disasters can escalate—and how critical timely, decisive alerts are in protecting lives.

In this episode of The Alerting Authority, hosts Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola sit down with Dan Vasquez, former Alert & Warning Coordinator for the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services, to break down how one region built one of the most coordinated emergency alerting systems in the United States.

From wildfires and hurricanes to multilingual communication and accessibility, Dan shares the real story behind:

• Training 190+ alert originators across 18 cities and a county
• Preventing mistakes like the infamous Hawaii false missile alert
• Writing clear alerts using Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)
• Coordinating alerts across multiple jurisdictions
• Reaching multilingual communities with trusted messengers
• Building the Partner Relay network for accessible crisis communication
• Creating policies and agreements that took 20 months to finalize

You’ll also hear how San Diego’s Unified Disaster Council model allows multiple jurisdictions to collaborate on warning systems, funding, and training, something many emergency management agencies are trying to replicate.

Plus, Dan explains the work of the Language Accessibility Alert & Warning Workgroup, a national initiative focused on making emergency alerts accessible to everyone, regardless of language, disability, or technology.

If you work in emergency management, public safety, crisis communication, or government technology, this episode is packed with real-world lessons on how to deliver alerts that are accurate, timely, and accessible.