The Public Relations Society of America presented its Public Relations Professional of the Year award to San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders' communications team for its handling of citywide communications during the wildfires in October 2007 that burned nearly 198,000 acres.

"The communications team in Mayor Jerry Sander's office pitted the power of communications against the fury of a natural disaster, turning best practices into safety and recovery for residents of San Diego," said PRSA Chair and CEO Jeffrey Julin. "The communications team not only used cutting-edge techniques to steer ground operations toward favorable outcomes, but then also effectively communicated the positive stories they helped create. This effort was public relations at its ultimate best."

During the course of the disaster, San Diego officials implemented a crisis communications plan that targeted evacuees, the media, public officials and employees, corporations offering donations, and the public around the country and the world. Through the use of regular advisories and press briefings, in both English and Spanish, as well as online postings and digital databases, the team kept all audiences informed about the need to evacuate as the fires spread, the status of city services and the safety and needs of the more than 14,000 evacuees being sheltered in the city's Qualcomm Center. The resulting effort enabled the city to communicate vital evacuation, repopulation and recovery information to the widest possible audience.

"When the fires broke out, I told my communications team that we would need to supply the public with frequent, timely, detailed and accurate information — around the clock — and they got that done in tremendous fashion," Sanders said. "They had the extraordinarily complicated task of helping to evacuate and later bring people back to large portions of America's eighth largest city. They needed to inform people about the locations, and the volunteer and donation needs of our emergency shelters, and they also needed to let people know about the services and support systems that were available to them if their homes were damaged or destroyed during the fires."

The city's communications team drew on its research and experience from the 2003 San Diego Cedar Fire, as well as the recent lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina.

The city's communications team is Fred Sainz, communications director; and deputy press secretaries George Biagi, Eileen Brennan and Bill Harris.