5:27 PM Thu, Oct 25, 2007 | Permalink |
In the wake of the California Wildfires, we've been hearing a lot about Reverse 911, which is actually the brand name of one of the systems used by fire and police departments, cities and counties and emergency managers, to alert their local populace of everything from wildfires to dangerous dogs.
It is a system that uses pre-recorded messages and can call people down to a specific block, with emergency information. It was one method widely used to pass on emergency evacuation orders, getting hundreds of thousands of people to clear out of the path of the deadly California fires.
Cell phones, and so called VOIP or internet phones are a weak link in this type of system. Unlike land line they aren't automatically signed up for the service.
The City of Bellevue is encouraging people to register their cell and VOIP phones so they can be called as well.
But in a phone call I had with John Pennington, the director of Snohomish County's emergency management agency, they're about to try something a little different.
Snohomish County is going with a Boise, Idaho company that will also call cell phones that just happened to be in an area affected by an emergency.
We'll keep you posted on this latest twist.
It is great that the article communicates how Bellevue residents can register their cell numbers, but how do residents of Tacoma, Pierce County, etc. do the same. I attempted a search to get to resources to do this, but no luck. If you have a suggestion (or web/ph#) to share, that would be great.
Just another feeble attempt by public-servants to perpetuate the myth that they are actually performing a service.