Authorities can now call you during an emergency
Wednesday, May 25, 2005 8:25 AM PDT
By Amy M. E. Fischer
Printable version
E-mail this articleA "reverse 911" system capable of speedily relaying messages to thousands of home phones in four counties during emergencies will be functional by June 1, according to regional emergency management officials.
Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, Clark and Skamania counties jointly signed a contract with service providers 21st Century Communications and Qwest. The four-year contract will cost a total of $193,000, which includes monthly maintenance fees and daily phone company updates, said Chris Herman, emergency management project coordinator for Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency (also the regional U.S. Department of Homeland Security office).
Under the contract, the four counties will share 1,000 free minutes a month, Herman said Monday. After those minutes are used, there is an activation fee for each phone number the computer system dials, he said.
"We went with that because the small counties would be more likely to use it, and they wouldn't have to wait to allocate the money ... to use the system," he said.
A federal grant is paying for the initial contract, officials have said.
Although the system will be installed by the beginning of June, a training session for emergency workers to use it will be held later in the month, he said. However, if a need arose, 21st Century's control center could verbally prompt local officials through the required steps to activate the system, Herman said.
The reverse 911 system could notify residents of emergencies such as natural disasters, chemical leaks, kidnappings, man hunts, terrorist attacks and wildfires, officials have said.
During an emergency, an authorized person could pinpoint an area on a map, draw a circle or other shape on it, and have the computer system automatically dial the land-line number of every residence and business within the circle. A recorded message would explain the emergency and what action needed to be taken.
It would take only a few minutes to reach thousands of households using the system, officials say. However, the system only calls land-lines, not cell phones.
Herman said the program prints reports indicating whether a live person or an answering machine was reached. If emergency workers need to call back later with updated information, the system can be programmed to dial only the numbers it successfully reached the first time, he said.
The system also can relay messages in Spanish and to TDD devices for the deaf.
Past Month's Most Commented Stories