GREENE CO. – Greene County has a new Emergency Warning System: “Greene County Alert System has been launched.”
According to Roger Axe, Director of the Greene County Emergency Management Agency, “We have taken a giant step forward in our ability to send warnings to the people of the county. The Greene County Alert System can notify people in case of a tornado and other types of hazards, such as road closures, school emergencies, hazardous materials incidents, etc. The system will notify individuals who have signed up via cell phone or landline of impending danger.”
This is a Reverse 911 system. Usually, when there is a problem, you call 911. This system will not replace 911 but will enhance it. Using the Greene County Alert System, Sheriff’s dispatchers will call endangered residents, alerting them to the potential threat.
The system is free of charge but requires enrollment to receive the warnings.
“We have been working on this project for over three years, securing funding and setting the system
in place,” added Axe.
This has been a joint project of cooperation between Greene County Emergency Management Agency, Greene County Sheriff, Greene County Health Department, and Greene County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC).
Reverse 911 is the third part of the Warning Triad for Greene County. The triad consists of outdoor
warning sirens, weather alert radios, and Reverse 911. Reverse 911 is an economical way of warning and notifying.
“Outdoor warning sirens are costly to maintain,” said Axe. “Weather alert radios are usually indoors and cannot be heard outside. Adding Reverse 911 to our existing Warning and Notification methods will enhance our ability to notify Greene County’s residents of dangerous conditions by providing an all-hazards alerting process.
The Reverse 911 system will also allow for more information to be provided directly to your phone in an emergency, rather than just a siren.
“Ninety-five percent of the population carry cell phones,” said Axe. “We can alert people wherever they are – especially at crowded sporting events like ball games. Another plus in this system is that if an enrollee travels to another part of the state, for example, Indianapolis, they can get the alert while away from home.”
The rural population cannot hear the outdoor warning sirens from the county’s cities and towns. Now, Greene County’s rural population can be directly notified in those areas where the sirens could not be heard before.
This system will allow Greene County Sheriff’s Dispatch to have the ability, in times of dire emergency,
to send specific warnings over all cell phone towers in the county through the Integrated Public Alert
Warning System (IPAWS).
This system is especially beneficial with tornado season around the corner and the Eclipse in April.
“This enhances our warning capability for these events,’ said Axe. “Sullivan got hit hard in last March’s Tornado, and we want to be better prepared. We do not expect immediate perfection. We are still learning the system but felt it was better to start working out the bugs now.”
The system is free by enrolling through the website or scanning this QR code.
