Know the plan
Emergency information
Nothing on this page has ever been needed, and every part of it is practiced as if it will be tomorrow. If you live or work within ten miles of the station, this is what the sirens mean, what to do, where to listen and where to get potassium iodide tablets.
If you hear the sirens at any time other than the monthly test: go indoors, tune to KGAJ 26 or KGAJ 92.7 FM, and follow the directions of the county's emergency manager. The sirens do not mean evacuate. They mean listen. Do not telephone the station; its lines are needed for the response. The recorded emergency information line is (696) 412-0560.
The sirens
A steady tone, three minutes, the first Wednesday at noon
There are 42 sirens inside the ten-mile planning zone, on poles in Langlois, Sixes, along Cape Blanco Road, in Port Orford from Garrison Lake to the harbor, up the Elk River valley and along US 101 between. They are tested on the first Wednesday of every month at noon with a steady tone that lasts three minutes; KGAJ 92.7 FM announces the test that morning. Nothing is expected of you except to notice that the siren nearest you can be heard, and to tell us if it cannot.
If the sirens ever sounded at any other time, the tone would be the same. It is a call to listen: go indoors, turn on KGAJ 26 or 92.7 FM, and wait for the county's instructions. In most of the emergencies the plan covers, the instruction would be to stay indoors with the doors and vents closed for a few hours, or to do nothing at all. The sirens are also sounded for a tsunami warning on this coast, and the instruction then is the one you already know: walk uphill.
Every siren has a battery, is tested silently every day by radio, and is checked on its pole twice a year. The county's emergency manager sounds them from the sheriff's office; the station can also sound them, and both practice it.
The planning zone
Ten miles around the station
The emergency planning zone reaches ten miles in every direction from the domes: the area in which the county, the state and the station plan for sheltering or moving people if that were ever needed. It takes in Langlois, Sixes, Floras Lake, Cape Blanco and its lighthouse and state park, Port Orford and its harbor, Garrison Lake, the Elk River valley as far as the hatchery, Paradise Point and Humbug Mountain's north side. Bandon and Gold Beach are outside it; Coos Bay is far outside it.
Every household and business inside the zone receives the emergency planning guide by mail each year: the map, the sirens, the routes, the reception centers and the stations to listen to. It is written with the county's emergency manager and KGAJ, and it is the one document to keep on the refrigerator. .
Beyond ten miles, out to fifty, the plan covers the food and water of the coast: the dairies, the cranberry bogs, the harbor's catch and the city's water plant, which would be tested by the state before anything reached a market.
The planning guide is mailed to every household in the zone each year and is handed out at the visitor center. Nothing was downloaded; for another copy call the emergency information line, (696) 412-0560.
What to do
In order
Listen
Go indoors and turn on KGAJ 26 or KGAJ 92.7 FM. Every instruction comes from the county's emergency manager through them and through the county's own alerts to phones in the zone.
Shelter if told
Close doors, close vents, turn off anything that draws in outside air, and stay inside until told otherwise. For most of what the plan covers this is the whole instruction, and it would last hours, not days.
Evacuate only if told
If the county tells your area to leave, go by US 101 north toward Bandon or south toward Gold Beach as the broadcast says, to the reception center named for your area. Take medicines, a change of clothes and your pets. Do not drive to the station, and do not drive into the zone to fetch anyone.
Schools and care homes
The school district moves its students to its own reception center and tells parents where through KGAJ; care homes and the clinic have their own plans and transport. Do not go to collect anyone before the broadcast tells you where they are.
Take potassium iodide only if told
If the county says to, take the tablets from your household supply as the packet directs. They protect the thyroid and are of no use for anything else, so they are not taken as a precaution.
Wait for the all-clear
It comes the same way, on KGAJ and the county's alerts, and never by siren.
Where to listen
KGAJ 26 and KGAJ 92.7 FM
KGAJ in Port Orford, on channel 26 and 92.7 FM, is the station's emergency broadcast partner and the county's. In an emergency KGAJ carries the county's instructions as they are given, repeats them, and stays on the air through the event on its own generators. Its newsroom takes part in every drill. The county's alert system also reaches phones inside the zone.
The station keeps a recorded emergency information line, (696) 412-0560, which carries the plant's status in plain words and is updated through any event. Media questions go to the Communications & Community office through the main number, (696) 412-0500.
Potassium iodide
Free tablets for the zone
Potassium iodide tablets protect the thyroid from one of the substances a damaged reactor could release, and the state provides them free to every household inside the planning zone. If you live or work inside the zone and do not have a packet, pick one up at the Port Orford or Langlois fire station during business hours, at the county public health office, or at the visitor center. Bring something with your address on it. Packets are replaced before they expire; the planning guide says when.
The tablets are taken only when the county says to. They do nothing against other kinds of exposure and are not a reason to stay in a place you have been told to leave.
Questions people ask
At the fire station and the visitor center
Has the plan ever been used for real?
No. The sirens have sounded outside the monthly test for tsunami warnings on this coast, which they are also part of, and never for the plant. The plan is practiced four times a year with the county and the fire district, and every other year in a full-scale exercise graded by the federal regulators and the state.
Why does the siren near me sound different from the test?
Some sirens are the newer electronic kind and some are the older rotating kind; the tone is the same steady tone but the newer ones can also speak a short message. If one near you sounds broken, or cannot be heard indoors, call the emergency information line, (696) 412-0560; sirens are moved and added on the strength of those calls.
What about my animals?
Pets go with you. The reception centers take them. Livestock is sheltered where it is, with feed and water, and the state's agriculture staff come to the farms inside the zone as part of the plan.
I have a boat in the harbor. What do I do?
Nothing by sea. The Coast Guard closes the water inside the zone and the harbor's cranes are shut down; leave the boat on its dolly and go by road like everyone else. The dock master has the harbor's own plan.
Why would I shelter rather than leave?
Because for most of what the plan covers, a few hours indoors with the vents closed gives far more protection than hours in a car on US 101, and the roads must stay clear for the people who do have to move. Shelter is the instruction most likely to be given; evacuation is kept for the areas and the cases that need it.
How would I know it was over?
The all-clear comes on KGAJ and the county's alerts, never by siren. The recorded line carries it too.
How the plant is built so that none of this is needed.
Defense in depth, the three barriers, the inspectors and the record.