— by Lin McNulty —
If you live within this circle, and have a landline, you were alerted by phone of the evacuation order due to a propane leak in the Seaview area.
The propane leak on Seaview street today is the first “opportunity” the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) has had reason to use what is referred to as the Reverse 911 System.
DEM Director Brendon Cowan says it has been in existence for six years. Although it has been tested many times, this was the first true application of the system. The County contracts with a company called Alert Sense, a mass emergency notification system, for which they pay an annual fee in the neighborhood of $2600; funds are obtained through a federal grant.
Draw a circle, plug it into the system, and every landline in that circle receives an emergency phone call.
The system uses a national database of phone numbers and addresses, and while it does not guarantee 100 percent penetration, it does provide 50-80 percent notification capability. Cowan says the system is three-six months away from including not only landline numbers, but all cell phones as well. In the meantime, if you only have a cell phone, you can register HERE to be notified by text or phone call.
And, of course, if phone service and/or the internet are down, the system will not function, but for something like this morning’s evacuation notice, it worked perfectly.
Nice to know county and fire dept are thinking about and preparing for these kind of things, no matter how unlikely they seem. Anything can happen.