Walker County's new and improved method for sending emergency notifications is now up and running.
Available for both Apple and Android devices, the SirenGPS app sends push notifications to smartphones in a matter of seconds, keeping residents alerted to bad weather and other community concerns or interests.
Tied directly to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the app will relay warnings about thunderstorms, flash floods, tornadoes and severe winter weather as soon as the alert is issued by the National Weather Service.
SirenGPS immediately replaces Walker County's Hyper-Reach notification system, which will be discontinued at the end of February.
The update is expected to limit the strain placed on the county's telecommunication infrastructure, which is not equipped to distribute a large number of phone calls at one time, said Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Blake Hodge.
During periods of inclement weather, emergency personnel found it took nearly an hour for some residents to receive notification.
"We value public safety, so over the past year, we've been testing other community notification systems to see if we could speed up the time it takes to alert our citizens to potential hazards," said Joe Legge, spokesperson for Walker County. "SirenGPS gives us that advantage."
While Hyper-Reach sent out multiple notifications by text and phone to increase the chances that citizens receive the warning, SirenGPS is a lot more intentional about its alerts.
When activated, the system will send a push notification to every resident who has downloaded the app, clearing everyone who saw the notification from its list of people to contact. Sixty seconds later, the system will send a second notification by text message only to those who did not receive the push notification. After another 60 seconds, the system will then call the remaining app-users who did not receive the first two alerts.
"By getting notifications out to 70 percent of our residents through the app or by text, the landline infrastructure won't be so taxed, so the remaining 30 percent who need a phone call will receive it much quicker," Legge explained.
As another benefit of the update, emergency personnel will also be able to limit their notifications to people within a specific target area, such as a single road or neighborhood, allowing them to send alerts only to residents who would be affected, Hodge said. Those localized emergencies may include SWAT incidents, road closures, power outages, water outages or boil water notices, among others.
County officials urged residents to download the free SirenGPS app as soon as possible to avoid any lapse in threat notification.
Residents without smartphones can still sign up to receive text messages and phone calls from SirenGPS by calling the Walker County Commissioner's Office at 706-638-1437, where they can be entered into the system manually. Those with computer access can also sign up by creating an account at secure.sirengps.com//register.
Email Myron Madden at mmadden@timesfreepress.com.