Scanner enthusiast offers fire updates via Twitter

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. — The emergency-radio chatter sounded different from the thousands of others calls Thomas Gorden has overheard from his Simi Valley home.

Wildfires aren’t supposed to be that large before the first crews arrive, he remembers thinking. Firefighters accustomed to brush-fire responses sounded particularly tense as they relayed what they were seeing to dispatchers on the other end of the line.

Fifty acres.

Rapid rate of spread.

Fanned by winds roaring through the hills near Steckel Park in Santa Paula.

“I could tell by the way there were talking on the radio,” Gorden said. “I knew from the first engine that was going to arrive, when they could already see it from their station and they were several miles away, it was going to be a big fire.”

Local TV stations weren’t yet posting updates on the soon-to-be-named Thomas Fire.

The Ventura County Fire Department’s public information accounts confirmed there was a fire, but posted only three tweets in the first two hours — a time when it ballooned to 2,500 acres.

Gorden knew the area. He knew this was different.

People would be desperate for details amid a dearth of live updates while the fire ate through vegetation at a rate of an acre per second and raced toward people’s homes and more populated areas.

So, like he did for the past decade for small fires and car wrecks, he went to his computer. He pulled up his Twitter account. And he started tweeting what he was hearing over the firefighter’s scanner channels, establishing himself as an authority on what would soon rank among the largest wildfires in California history.

“That Monday night, I did not sleep,” Gorden said. “I stayed up all night. Because I knew that people were desperate for information.”

His followers grew from 4,500 to 18,000. Among them: a Pulitzer Prizewinning LA Times journalist, a CBS News anchor and the very public information officer whose job he emulated as millions sought real-time information about the Thomas Fire.

Gorden, 21, works for a company that installs chair lifts for elderly and disabled people.

You might know him by his Twitter handle, @VCScanner.

Gorden is a soft-spoken Southern Californian who has always wanted to work in public safety. Back problems that quashed that dream, he told The Arizona Republic in an interview this week.

His parents bought him an emergency scanner when he was 11 years old. Whereas many families keep a television on in the background, the constant chatter of the emergency radio was the white noise of Gorden’s childhood.

He started the @VCScanner account on Twitter in 2011, embracing the chance to connect with his neighbors. He wanted to be a part of the action, and this was the easiest way to do just that.

“It’s just grown into a hobby of mine ever since,” he said.

By day, Gorden works for a company that installs chair lifts for service disabled and elderly residents in the Ventura area. By night, he takes to Twitter, sharing updates about car wrecks and house fires and police activity — things that might not make the local newspaper but would no doubt catch interest from rubberneckers and neighbors.

He never imagined he would be revered for transmitting public safety news during one of the state’s most destructive wildfires.

There’s a dark side to all things involving the internet.

Live-tweeting emergencies is among the darkest and potentially most dangerous.

With keyboard warriors at the ready, and web services streaming police and fire radio traffic to computers and cell phones around the world, anyone can post a detail that lacks context or stands to reveal law enforcement tactics during dynamic emergencies.

A news reporter came under fire after transmitting tactical details about a shooter’s location inside a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic in 2015. And in a race to report details about mass shootings or emergencies, case after case shows early reports are not always 100 percent accurate — and can actually be harmful.

Wildfires are very different events than active shooters, but many of the same issues arise, said Micki Trost, communications director for the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Trost has studied the role of social media and public safety emergencies. While live updates from civilian Twitter accounts can be helpful, they can also create “noise” that might be taken out of context by people not trained in firefighting tactics or emergency management. A lot of what is said on emergency radios ends up being brainstorming sessions between responders, not necessarily information people should be making life or death decisions on. Plus, one person’s comments might not be reflective of the actual emergency, though it could go viral and circumvent efforts by official accounts to clearly communicate information that people need to be aware of.

“It’s the possibility of the misinformation, of information being out of context,” Trost said. “Instead of the communications staff focusing on providing the updates, they now have to make sure they’re correcting what’s being pushed out there.”

“It’s just wrong enough that it could cause harm,” she said of simply typing what is overheard on the scanner.

The same applies to amateur scanner junkies.

Gorden is aware of the risks.

The biographical section for @VCScanner has a disclaimer: “All tweets are unofficial.” And Gorden and has a message pinned atop his profile declaring: “Some incidents on this account are delayed in order to protect officer safety.”

It’s not a perfect solution. But it’s more than what many do.

In cities across the country, people behind so-called “scanner accounts” have cultivated a significant following of people looking for information about a car wreck on their way home or curious about the flashing lights at the end of the block.

Details from those scenes can compromise first responder safety — a shooter can check a phone and gain an advantage in real time — leading many agencies to encrypt their emergency traffic.

Still, Trost and experts who study best practices for social-media use during disasters recognize the importance of live updates. Some public-safety agencies circumvent traditional media sources and scanner junkies, opting to post live updates themselves.

Massive wildfires can overwhelm resources. So in a way, even those in the industry acknowledge the value offered like @VCScanner.

Thomas Fire tweets

His first came at 6:33 p.m. local time. “Santa Paula: Reported brush fire at Thomas Aquinas College. E20 have visual several miles out. Upgrading to a 2nd alarm.”

Two minutes later, the seriousness was intensifying: “Update: Fire is possibly above Steckel Park. Approximately 50 acres with rapid rate of spread. Homes threatened.”

Dire warnings began 90 minutes later, with Gorden writing “2,500+ acres with long range spotting. Evacuate the area immediately. This fire is moving dangerously fast.”

He reported scanner chatter about power outages and school closures. He relayed live feeds from news helicopters and linked to volunteer rescue groups. Posts about evacuation centers and resource needs took off into Tuesday.

And as he pumped out tweets by the minute, he directed his rapidly growing base of information-seekers to authorities on the ground.

In a time when there was a need for any and all information, Gorden filled the void.

His inbox blew up to the point where he said he was getting hundreds of replies and messages asking about certain streets, evacuations, weather conditions and warnings.

As emergency crews scrambled to get a handle on the disaster, and journalists worked to gauge what level of disaster coverage the Thomas Fire would garner, Gorden assumed his role of communication conveyor.

He didn’t always have the answer. But he was candid and personable. That’s what people needed.

“I’ve been working off very little sleep because I know people are desperate for information,” he said in an interview. “I didn’t really think of it as a public services until some of the messages I was getting from people.”

Some worried about relatives or their property.

Others doubted the importance of evacuating, at which point he warned them to leave.

The thank you notes poured in. “Thank you for your tweets! Got me through the night,” one user wrote, replying to a message Gorden posted as his own home came under threat from the Rye Fire.

Another user, Mary Ann Gallo, expressed similar sentiments.

“I must add to the chorus of gratitude! I am in Los Angeles, but my brother lives alone in Oak View. Your tweets have offered the most up-to-date, clearest & most useful information. You’ve provided a tremendous service. THANK YOU.”

Some people have offered to send him money or Christmas gifts as a token of their appreciation.

“I don’t want any of that,” he said sharply in an interview, hoping instead people donate to an appropriate charity or relief group.

Gorden doesn’t plan on working for the chair-installation company forever.

He also probably won’t run @VCScanner indefinitely.

But he’s unsure what’s next. Maybe pursuing a degree in emergency management. Maybe becoming a public information officer.

Asked what’s next, Gorden pauses. As he puts it, he has “some big decisions” to make.

But the Thomas Fire is still burning out of control.

That’s his priority.