EDITORIAL: Get connected to underused emergency notification service
A local database that alerts area residents of emergencies via cell phones and e-mails is being woefully underutilized in Waco, and we think that’s a shame.
C’mon, folks. Let’s all link into this service and be up-to-date on potentially lifesaving news.
Our tax dollars already pay for this, so we might as well benefit from it.
The OutReach911 notification system is hosted by the Texas Council of Governments and allows city and county officials to send messages on events that endanger life or property, ranging from water pipe breaks to incoming tornadoes.
Alerts can be made via cell phone calls, text messages or e-mails. And it’s free.
To link in, residents need log onto this Web site: hotcog.updata911.com.
The system was launched in May, but so far only 1,100 residents have signed up for it. That’s just 1 percent of the 158,000 contacts in the area, which includes local businesses.
Harold Ferguson, the council’s homeland security coordinator, told Trib reporter Cindy V. Culp that many households no longer have landlines. So if they don’t list additional cell phone numbers or e-mail addresses, then they won’t be in the loop.
The database covers Bosque, Falls, Freestone, Hill, Limestone and McLennan counties. It’s already proved useful in sending out several area alerts, including notifying Waco residents of utility troubles recently. (Those smart ones listed in the database, that is.)
Get in the loop, Waco.
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