Yuba County Audible Alarm Planning Project

The objective of the RFP and subsequent contracting activity is to secure the services of an experienced entity capable of efficiently determining ideal location and placement of each alarm to be audible for the most residents in the Yuba County foothills for notification in the event of an emergency for evacuation. This task includes but is not limited to conducting a needs assessment, scoping, receipt/incorporation of public feedback to identify future alarm locations, and planning for the emergency warning system.

The successful proposer must be capable of the identification of an appropriate advanced warning alarm system, location and placement of each alarm, identification of equipment and installation needs, and identification of necessary compliance with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and/or National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as well all other applicable state and federal requirements which also include the use of California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds as the source of funds for this planning project.

IMPORTANT: The intended result of this project is to produce a needs assessment to analyze the possibilities and best options available to determine locations that would be ideal for future siting of an audible alarm system. This project is not intended to produce detailed engineering specifications or working drawings. The County is prohibited from using its funding source for a project design that would result in engineering specifications or working drawings, as these are ineligible costs.

Yuba County is located in the Sacramento Valley in Northern California. During the recent fires in the Sierra foothills, the County observed numerous instances where evacuees woke up in the night to extreme fire danger, with little warning and an immediate need to evacuate. Given the likelihood of future fires, the County considers this a significant safety issue and proposes a project to address the lack of advance warning systems for the need to evacuate, with the strategic placement of audible warning alarms. The advance warning system will also help protect the rest of the community and firefighters as the alarm system will allow the focus of evacuation notifications and efforts outside of the audible alarm system.

The selected consultant will conduct a needs assessment, scoping, receipt/incorporation of public feedback to identify future alarm locations, and planning for the emergency warning system to reach as many residents and businesses as practical. The locations should have existing power, or the ability to readily provide it, and should be at elevation/position to maximize system efficacy. The planned system must provide the software and equipment to initiate the alarms to sound in an emergency event to alert residents to evacuate and will be able to have more alarms added to the system when necessary and when funding is available.

The County’s Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan (MHMP) the MHMP has the following goal: Develop disaster preparedness program among the general public and businesses to address evacuations, preparedness and protection. In addition, the proposed project supports the goals and objectives of the California Strategic Fire Plan and the Yuba Foothills Community Wildfire Protection Plan. This project will improve resilience in the Most Impacted and Distressed (MID) area and underserved communities and vulnerable populations, by providing advance notice of the need to evacuate, in the event of a future wildfire.