Rialto Bolsters Evacuation Plans, Faces $1.5M Water Resiliency Shortfall Amid Fire Concerns

Amid emergency concerns following the Los Angeles fires, Rialto City Council bolstered the city’s evacuation protocols by adopting the Genasys EVAC Evacuation Management Platform for $161,635 and identified problems with the city’s well system that may require as much as $1.5 million in federal and state grants to fix. 

Recently, Southern California Edison (SCE) has come under fire for its alleged negligence regarding the Eaton fire, and this has prompted Rialto city officials to reconsider the city’s disaster preparedness, including static planning and water resiliency. 

Before Genasys, “Rialto relied primarily on static evacuation planning and general broadcast alerts,” Tanya Williams, Rialto’s newly appointed city manager, said in an email. 

Static evacuation planning refers to a fixed plan to evacuate people during an emergency where the procedures, designated exit routes and assembly points remain the same regardless of the conditions. 

Comparatively, dynamic evacuation planning allows for changes to be made according to the circumstances in real-time. 

William’s said Rialto currently uses a “multi-platform approach” to emergencies. 

She explained that the city ensures “real-time communication with residents,” through a “Telephone Emergency Notification System (TENS)” that alerts “impacted residents” through a phone call or text message. 

The city also uses its social media accounts to update residents in addition to Nixle Alerts, “a public messaging system that sends emergency notifications via SMS and email,” Williams said. 

However, Williams said the city recognized the need for a more dynamic system. 

By adopting the new platform, city officials hope to “enhance situational awareness, evacuation coordination, and real-time decision making,” Williams said, adding that Genasys provides, “interactive mapping to identify safe evacuation routes and high-risk zones, allowing responders to adjust plans dynamically.”

“Genasys enables zone-specific, multilingual alerts, ensuring critical information reaches all affected residents efficiently,” Williams said. “The platform streamlines communication between first responders, mutual aid agencies, and traffic control, improving overall evacuation execution.”

Beyond Genasys, city officials are taking additional steps to improve Rialto’s disaster preparedness, including an ongoing effort to upgrade the city’s water resiliency. 

After a presentation of the Genasys platform, Mayor Pro Tem Ed Scott commented on Rialto’s water resiliency shortfall. 

“We do not have generators on our well facilities in this city,” he said. “So, if our electricity were to be totally shut down, we wouldn’t have any water.”

Scott said in an email that if a total electrical shutdown occurred, the city “would have to rent generators and bring portable generators on site.” 

Despite the system’s shortcomings, Williams explained that Rialto has met the needs of its “most critical facilities” in the past. 

“Historically, when SCE has issued a Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) of an impacted circuit, the City has maintained 100% operational reliability through our storage, wells and pump stations on unimpacted circuits and/or mobile generators,” she said. 

For example, West Valley Water District (WVWD) representative Socorro Pantaleon said in an email that “WVWD deploys portable generators to well sites as needed and has two stationary backup generators . . . to pump and deliver water for fire suppression . . . during extended power outages.” 

“In addition,” she said, “WVWD has 72 million gallons of water storage in our reservoirs throughout our service area. This is enough water for over four days of average water demand.”

According to city officials, Rialto’s facilities are on separate circuits within SCEs powergrid and are proactively exploring permanent solutions due to recent fires and the possibility of an extended power outage.

The water purveyors for Rialto include the West Valley Water District and Rialto Water Services.

According to Scott, there are 17 wells that fall within the Rialto Water Services service area. He said some may not “need to be retrofitted with generators.” 

“We might be able to get away with retrofitting less well sites based on water zones, because each area of the city is generally on one or more water zones, and you might be able to get away with only needing one per zone versus one per well,” Scott said.

Scott estimates the city will need to secure around “$1.5 million” in federal and state grants to purchase and install the generators needed. 

However, he clarified that his estimate may fall short because it does not include—as he does not yet know—the number of wells that fall within the service area for the West Valley Water District. 

Even so, “the City maintains water storage in our reservoirs to meet a maximum, plus fire flow for normal structure fires,” Williams said. 

Inland Empire Community News (IECN) requested more information from Rialto Water Services and the West Valley Water District. Specifically, IECN asked for the number of wells in their respective service areas, in addition to the number of generators needed to strengthen Rialto’s disaster preparedness. 

IECN has not received a response citing either the specific number of wells or how many would need generators.