Public emergency notificationEmergency alerts for cell phones

Officials adept warning systems to cell phones // Source: ksl.com

With more and more individuals switching to cell phones and abandoning their land lines, emergency responders and government officials have been forced to adapt emergency warning systems to connect to cell phones instead.

For instance, residents living near Austin, Texas can now receive important emergency notifications on their cell phones for free. Individuals living in the ten county Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) region are eligible to sign up for the emergency alert service through a web-based application. To register residents only need to provide their name, cell phone number, and one or more locations to receive notices for when emergencies could affect their homes or businesses.

Ed Schaefer, the homeland security director for CAPCOG, said that with the current extreme drought and wildfires springing up residents are encouraged to sign up for the emergency notification system.

In April Schaefer said that the system was used to evacuate residents when the Oak Hill fire threatened their homes and again when fires raged out of control in Burnet County.

The region’s emergency notification system was originally implemented in 2004 with the help of DHS grants and contributions from local governments. In the system’s early years, authorities were only able to contact residents through land line telephones, but with the increasing use of cell phones officials sought to expand the system’s capabilities with the new web-based application.

In addition the emergency alert system was also expanded to include the ability to send messages to hearing-impaired residents who rely on special tele-communicating devices for the deaf.

All numbers remain confidential once registered and only authorized public safety personnel can access the information to send emergency alerts.