Agenda - City of Santa Monica

determine response and recovery needs. Operations may take days because of the
disruption of transportation routes for fire department personnel and equipment.
Secondary responses by the Fire Service after assessment will be placed upon
diversion of resources to accomplish search and rescue of trapped persons and
extinguishment of fires with conflagration potential. Major problems the Fire Service
should expect are loss of power and water, restricted mobility due to debris, and
possible loss of primary dispatch capability.
Highways and Bridges
Damage to freeway systems is expected to be major as experienced in the partial
collapse of the Santa Monica Freeway (U.S. Highway 10) during the Northridge
earthquake. Any inner surface transportation routes could be subject to delays and
detours. A major portion of surface streets in the vicinity of freeways could be blocked
due to collapsed overpasses. Many surface streets in the older central business
districts will be blocked by debris from buildings, falling electrical wires and pavement
damage.
Natural Gas
Damage to natural gas facilities will consist primarily of (a) some isolated breaks in
major transmission lines, and (b) innumerable breaks in mains and individual service
connections within the distribution systems, particularly in the areas of intense ground
shaking. These many leaks in the distribution system will affect a major portion of the
urban areas, resulting in a loss of service for extended periods. Fires should be
expected at the sites of a small percentage of ruptures both in the transmission lines
and the distribution system. Transmission pipelines serving the general basin area are
most vulnerable to damage.
Crude Oil Pipelines
One crude oil pipeline runs beneath the City’s streets traversing dense residential and
commercial neighborhoods. A rupture of the pipeline could pose major hazards to
persons, property and the environment. Information regarding the pipeline can be
obtained from the Fire Department Hazardous Materials Specialist.
Railroads
No operational railroads exist in the City of Santa Monica. Metrolink is governed by the
Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA), a joint powers authority that was
formed in 1991 and comprises five county agencies that were tasked with reducing
highway congestion and improving mobility throughout Southern California: Los Angeles
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), Orange County Transportation
Authority, Riverside County Transportation Commission, San Bernardino Associated
Governments and Ventura County Transportation Commission. SCRRA created
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