Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency to be Testing Emergency Notification System

 

CLARK REGIONAL EMERGENCY SERVICES AGENCY

9-1-1 Dispatch Center

Regional Communications System - Emergency Management - Emergency Medical Services

Battle Ground, Camas, Clark County, La Center, Ridgefield, Vancouver, Washougal, and Yacolt

11/19/2014

Emergency Management to be testing Emergency Notification System

Residents in the Lewis River Drainage and areas of Woodland WA will receive a test call from CRESA Emergency Management as part of the Southwest Washington Region IV Emergency Notification System on November 20th between 10:00 AM and 2:00 P.M.  The test will call all landlines, registered cellular and VoIP (Voice over Internet Phones) from Merwin Dam to Woodland.  

CRESA Emergency Management in partnership with Skamania, Wahkiakum and Cowlitz Counties have been working with Hyper-Reach, the emergency notification system provider, to ensure residents are provided warning and could be notified in the case of an emergency.

The Regional Emergency Notification System allows Emergency Management to send a targeted message to a geographic location in times of emergency.  These alerts can be used for anything from Missing Persons, Criminal Threats, and Evacuation notices.  Traditional land-line phone numbers are automatically included in the system.  Mobile numbers, e-mail addresses and VoIP need to be registered to be part of the system.  

There is a misconception about what is a “Traditional Land-line.”  Just because you have a phone that plugs into the wall does not mean you still have a traditional land-line.  If you have bundled your phone with your cable television and Internet, you no longer have a traditional landline.  To be sure you are in the system, residents are encouraged to visit http://cresa911.org/alerts-by-phone to register their cellular or VoIP phones to receive these notifications.  Notifications may also be received via text message, email, and or TDD depending on preferences selected during registration.  

By preforming these test drills, the system can be evaluated to ensure the data is correct, identifies any problems which allows them to be corrected prior to an actual emergency.

Residents with questions or requiring additional information should contact  Eric Frank at 360-992-6289 or 360-601-8962

Contact:  Eric Frank

CRESA Public Information Officer

360-992-6289 Desk

360-601-8962 Cell

eric.frank@clark.wa.gov