County launches reverse 911

RBC — The Eastern and Western Rio Blanco County 911 Emergency Telephone Authority has contracted with Emergency Communications Network, Inc., of Ormond Beach, Fla., for its “CodeRED” high-speed telephone emergency notification services.
The CodeRED system gives county officials the ability to deliver pre-recorded emergency telephone notification/information messages to targeted areas or the entire county at a rate of up to 60,000 calls per hour.
Rio Blanco County Emergency Manager, John Hutchins, cautioned that such systems are only as good as the telephone database supporting them. “If your phone number is not in the database, you will not be called.”
The CodeRED system not only offers faster calling rates and improved message delivery, it gives individuals and businesses the ability to add their own phone numbers directly to the system’s telephone database. Hutchins emphasized that this is an extremely important feature.
To ensure no one is omitted and to add additional phone numbers, Hutchins urges all individuals and businesses in Meeker and Rangely to log onto: https://login.coderedweb.com/codereddataentry/index.cfm?GroupId=1558
The Rio Blanco County Web site http://www.co.rio-blanco.co.us/sheriff/ also has the link to the “CodeRED Residential and Business Data Collection” page.
Those without Internet access may call Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office at 878-9620, Monday through Friday, (8 a.m.-5 p.m.) to give their information over the phone. Required information includes first and last name, street address (physical address, no P.O. boxes), city, state, ZIP code, and primary phone number, additional phone numbers (optional).
Additional links will be added to the town of Meeker Web site www.townofmeeker.org and the Meeker Chamber of Commerce at www.meekerchamber.com. Rangely will be adding the link to their town Web site at http://www.rangely.com/index.html.
No one should automatically assume his or her phone number is included, Hutchins said. All businesses should register, as well as all individuals who have unlisted phone numbers, who have changed their phone number or address within the last year, and who use a cellular phone as their primary home phone.
Hutchins explained that the “CodeRED system is a geographical based notification system, which means street addresses are needed to select which phone numbers will r­eceive emergency notification calls in any given situation. The system works fine for cell phones too, but we have to have a street address.”
People who have recently moved but kept the same listed or unlisted phone number also need to change their address in the database. Everyone should go to the website, enter their address and phone number just to make sure they will be included should an emergency call go out.
Hutchins stated “CodeRED gives those who want to be included an easy and secure method for doing so.” The information will only be used for emergency notification purposes.” Questions should be directed to Lt. Hutchins at the Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office 878-9623.