Lincoln County 911 Alerts to Cell Phones
When a dam threatened to break in April, Lincoln County 911 used the Wide Area Rapid Notification system – or WARN – to call people at home alerting them the a life threatening emergency.
See Channel 13 WOWK-TV: http://www.swcg-inc.com/blog/?p=129
Allen Holder, director of Lincoln county’s emergency services, said mobile alerts, categorized by town, will run from natural disasters to missing people.
“The quicker we can get the information out to the public that we have a need for you to be watching, looking out your windows or doors, to determine that there’s someone out there that could be lost, the quicker we can actually get the help to the people”, Holder said.
Holder admits cell phone coverage in Lincoln County is spotty, but many residents work in Charleston or Huntington and they can be alerted to trouble at home before they even hit the road.
“I can tell you the smallest detail in disaster planning becomes the biggest obstacle,” said Dr. J. Loren Smith, director of Lincoln County Health Department. Smith anticipates WARN will help cut what he called the “hearsay obstacle” that often spreads misinformation and causes confusion.
County leaders say using land phone lines, WARN reaches the entire county in 15 minutes and has the potential to reach even more via cell phone no matter the distance from the emergency.
