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Thornton reviews emergency response after recent fast fire; dispatch moves alerting from CodeRed to Rave
Summary
Public safety leaders outlined lessons from a fast‑moving fire, including door‑to‑door evacuation tradeoffs and after‑action reviews; emergency manager Ryan Doyle said Thornton dispatch can now send reverse‑911 and Wireless Emergency Alerts via Rave and planned a public rollout and tests by the end of March.
City public safety leadership reviewed emergency response capabilities and recent lessons learned, and announced a managed transition away from the breached CodeRed system to the Rave alerting platform.
Ryan Doyle, the city’s emergency manager, told council: “As of this afternoon, Thornton dispatch now has the ability to send reverse 911 through the rave system, as well as to send IPAWS messages through this new rave system.” He described a phased outreach plan with a public launch, printed materials and sign‑up tables at recreation centers; staff planned a test of external and internal notifications by the end of March and semiannual testing thereafter.
Police and fire chiefs joined the briefing to explain incident command, continuity of operations and mutual‑aid arrangements. Leaders acknowledged gaps that became visible during the recent fire: door‑to‑door evacuation is resource‑intensive and may miss some homes; loudspeaker and siren tactics could supplement knock‑and‑notify; and communications with the state alerting channels will be vetted in the after‑action report. Councilmembers asked for a candid after‑action evaluation focused on whether state systems and coordination failed, door‑to‑door effectiveness, and outreach to medically vulnerable residents.
Doyle said the Rave rollout will include a city campaign (Thornton Ready), test messages, and partner coordination (rec centers, schools, businesses and faith organizations). On data privacy and the CodeRed breach, staff said the vendor indicated that data would be deleted after the city left the platform, but the city is still seeking final confirmation.
Council and staff also discussed the role of elected officials during incidents and the structure for PIO (public information officer) communications. Public safety urged council members to avoid arriving at active scenes and instead rely on centralized briefings so they do not distract incident operations.
What’s next: staff will complete after‑action reviews (city, police, fire), finalize Rave configuration and outreach materials, and perform a full system test by the end of March; council scheduled an executive session to discuss legal and security details of notification processes.
