Reverse 911 System

Has anyone had any experience with the Reverse 911 System. I used it as a reference in the "Fire Wire" thread and someone responded with "Reverse 911??

This is what I know about it.(as copied from the reply on the other thread)

The reverse 911 system is part of the Enhanced 911 if you chose it as an option. Basically in a nut shell.....you can record messages and have the system send them out. The system....buy using the 911 data base....places a call to every phone in the system and when the party answers, the message is played. It is my understanding that the system can be set up to by-pass multiple numbers to residences and businesses so that only one call is made to each household. In the case mentioned above, I beleive the system can also be programed to just notify a certain grid or portion of the area protected. In any case, this is all accomplished in a matter of minutes...

When the caller answers: "This is the ABC Emergency Communications....there is a major fire involving hazardous materials in your area that may require evacuation. If you are advised to evacuate go XYZ center...This is only a notification. Do not evacuate at this time. You will be notified as the situation changes."

In Florida you can see how this can be especially helpfull in the case of a hurricane.

Hope this helps. I am by no means an expert on this type of system other than to read about it and hear it discussed. But I believe this is how it works.
Stan

Sounds like a variation of the "National Emergency Broadcast System" that is in use in all of North America at least. I haven't seen a test of the system in many years; it used to come up on CBC very late at night. Of course I don't watch CBC very often.

If nothing else, it would be a good alternative to using television as an emergency communication device.

Stan,
What you describe sounds like the CAN(sp?) system. My understanding of the system is that in the event an evacuation or shelter in place action is warranted a message is sent out via the phone system to the effected grid area. In my area the order to activate the CAN system is supposed to come from Law Enforcement. I think the system was initially set up by chemical manufacturing facilities to warn people in the event of a chemical release. Someone please correct me if I am mistaken.

You can read all about this system at the following url. Enjoy!:D

http://www.reverse911.com/

I think the reverse 911 is a great idea, and could be very useful, especially in area surrounding chemical plants and such, but I don`t think it`s something we could just put in and use whenever. If we installed a system like that there would have to be some type of notification to all residents explaining what it is, and what kind of action to take when a message is sent. Without giving the public a heads up that the system is there, I`d forsee a major panic if it was ever used. Not only would people begin trying to leave their homes in an unorganized fashion, but 911 and the local firehouses would probably be flooded with phone calls from concerned residents who want to know more.

So my opinion, Reverse 911 can work, but there needs to be a big push to educate the public about it, and it wouldn`t be an easy thing to do. Right now I can`t see it working in my city, and to think how many languages a message would have to be recored in.:eek:

I knew my man from NJ would have a source or a link. How does he do it???

captstanm1,
I had heard about that quite some time ago, and I even heard that the police can use it if they have a suspect running loose in an area they can call the residents in the area and advise them of the situation, tell them to not let anyone into their home and report any suspicious persons to the police immediately. Sounds like a great idea!:D

I don't know if it is the same system or not, but I do know that there is something similar here. We have an ECOM system in BC, where most emergency vehicles are routed through the same dispatch. When the call comes into 911 it is sent to the appropriate area, although some cities still use their own dispatchers. My understanding is that it is used with GPS, and is part of our 'disaster plan'. They incorporated it a few years ago after they changed over to the ECOM system, and were bombarded with calls to 911, just to make sure the system was working. Ecom basically shut down due to overload. In any event, they decided that it would be better if 911 could advise people of where they should be going before the system got bogged down with calls. So satelites are used to track storms, fires etc. Calls are supposed to go out to emergency personnel first to re-call them, and then the public is supposed to be advised of where they should go for medical treatment, shelters etc. It was used a few years ago to evacuate my dad, and seemed to work well enough. I don't know if it national or not. I believe it is a seperate entity from ECOM, unless it just wasn't working when they first put the ECOM in.

thefyreman

Yes...that is true. In most cases the 911 system is a joint police/fire/ems system and can be used by either. I am not certain in Pinellas County who has the authority to activate the Reverse 911 System, but I do know that it can be done from the Emergency Operations Center when it opens during disasters. Otherwise, I think it may be managed by Emergency Management...

The agency that I work for has used the reverse 911 several times in the last two weeks. We call a large company in Denver that then sends out the message for us. We have to give them a center point and a radius that we want called. They then call all the houses inside the radius. We have been using it to issue evacuations and pre-evacuation to highly populated subdivisions. We send out the reverse 911 and then have law enforcement officers go down the streets with their lights and sirens on. We have found that it is a fast and effective way to issue evacuation notices.

capt...We have one in Alachua County (in north centrial florida) that my company purchased for the county as a good will gesture! So far all the county has used it for, that I know of is to notify certian neighborhoods in the city of community meetings!:rolleyes: If you need more info, I'm sure you could contact the Office of Emergency Management for Alachua County!

A couple of commerical sites:

http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Ec...mmunity_Alert/

ClarianERT....a great gesture by your company...but an expensive one I am sure. I do business in Aluchua County from time to time. Working on something with Archer now.

Anyway....I just posted that thread to get the information out. It was obvious to me that some folks were not aware the technology existed so I thought it was a way to share it.

Thanks for the information.

I think I heard about this a while back. Sounds great to me, especially in Tornado alley...not sure how it would work with earthquake warnings...but I digress...I would hope it would not be abused like it sounds like it has been in...how do you say that, Aluchua County:p ...it sounded to me like ClarianERT's company meant it for emergencies not business.