A reverse 911 system designed to alert the public about serious threats to the community was never utilized by Hamilton County as tornadoes repeatedly touched down last week, the county’s director for emergency services said.
And the county never has used the system for any emergency since it was implemented almost five years ago, he said, because there are only three criteria for using the system.
“We have not had a hazardous material incident happen, we have not had an incident happen at Sequoyah [nuclear power plant] and we haven’t had terrorist activity happen,” said Don Allen, director of Hamilton County Emergency Services.
The system is not ideal for handling sudden, targeted incidents such as tornadoes.
“It’s not geared for tornadoes,” he said.