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Crime & Safety

Emergency Pancake Breakfast?

Fire chief said using the alert system for a community event had merit.

Some 27,000 Palo Alto-area residents received an emergency alert last week from the fire department notifying them of Saturday's pancake breakfast -- resulting in use of that network for such a non-urgent purpose being questioned by some locals, according to a story in the San Jose Mercury News. 

 "This is a message from the Palo Alto Fire Department. Palo Alto firefighters will be hosting a community pancake breakfast benefiting Project Safety Net this Saturday, Oct. 12, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Rinconada Park, located at 777 Embarcadero Road. The event will include a simulated automobile rescue using the Jaws of Life and a live landing of Life Flight's helicopter. For additional information, please find us on Facebook and Twitter or visit Project Safety Net at www.psnpaloalto.com." the message stated.

Palo Alto Fire Department Chief Eric Nickel defended the tactic to the reporter, saying he was attempting to avert local concerns that could arise from one activity scheduled -- the Stanford Life Flight helicopter was to take part in a rescue simulation involving the Jaws of Life, the article stated.

"When we land a helicopter in the middle of town, people call 911 because they want to know what's going on," he said in a quote.

Perhaps the alert was not in vain, however, as citizen complaints were few, no 911 calls came in regarding the helicopter and the event reportedly drew record numbers of attendees, according to the story.

To read the article, click here. 

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