County Adds Two Cities to ER Notification System

Posted on: Mar 14th, 2011 | News and Announcements

Saraland and Citronelle residents are the newest participants in the emergency notification system purchased by the County of Mobile earlier this year to alert residents to health and safety threats. The Mobile County Commission approved contracts with the cities of Saraland and Citronelle Monday that will allow public safety agencies in those cities to use the system. The system by First Call in Baton Rouge, LA, can target geographical areas deemed to be in the path of a health or safety threat. The notification system automatically calls the telephones of people within the target area that are listed with AT&T, or those who have registered for the program at www.firstcall.net. The numbers with AT&T will be updated annually and First Call will update its numbers monthly. Emergency situations would include hazardous materials spills, hurricanes, floods and other weather-related threats, and anything else that threatens people or property. While Mobile County will foot the bill for the system, it will not be the end user of the system. Instead, the county purchased the system to make it available to public safety agencies in the county, at no cost to them. It will be up to the municipalities that opt into the system to decide when they initiate them. The new system will be used strictly for emergency notifications.