Rogers County Emergency Management (RCEM) wears a lot of hats. Their overriding purpose, though, is clear: keep Rogers County citizens safe! Code Red, a newly-launched emergency alert system is now better able to do just that. “From tornados, floods, and winter weather advisories to road closures, utility issues and the like—Code Red is comprehensive, accurate and user friendly,” states Scotty Stokes, Emergency Management Director. “It’s also more economical in terms of better use of tax dollars than our former warning system.”
Stokes explains that when RCEM set out to replace its old alert system, a lot of research was conducted before landing on Code Red. Not only that, Code Red had a lot of credibility, having been utilized by some of the neighboring counties with great success. Specifically, RCEM wanted a system that would automatically notify contacts when the need arose; a system wherein addresses could be geo-located by GPS coordinates; that could direct emergency response employees to a situation as needed; and, finally, one that not only notified citizens of emergency situations close to home, but, also, one with the capability to notify citizens of dangers while they were mobile. With such a tall order, RCEM set out to test the waters. Code Red met each of the criterion and then some—and at a lower cost than its predecessor.
So why not simply rely on the simplicity of a tornado siren, for example, rather than Code Red? “Code Red is an early warning system for Rogers County as a whole. Tornado Sirens are operated by individual municipalities and are designed to warn people while they are outside. This system is much more powerful and effective—designed to wake you up and warn you immediately in cases of emergency,” Stokes explains.
As is apparent, Code Red has great capabilities to effortlessly warn Rogers County citizens of impending dangers and, even, inconveniences. Currently, every telephone number assigned to a land line inside of Rogers County is already input in Code Red and will begin receiving notifications. If a citizen does not have a land line, however, or wants notifications on a cellphone, he or she must enroll in Code Red online.
Enrolling in Code Red is quick and simple. Simply go to www.rogerscounty.org. Then, click on the Code Red icon. From there, you will create an account and select the types of notifications you would like to receive—whether emergency warnings, only, or general warnings (e.g. road closures directly affecting your area of residence, utility outages, etc.) as well.
Code Red is very user friendly, so do not delay. Enroll online today at www.rogerscounty.org!
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