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Houston County presenter unveils targeted cell-alert plan for schools and residents
Summary
An unnamed presenter told the commission the county has adopted a FEMA/IPAWS-capable vendor that can send targeted wireless emergency alerts and group messages, including 55 school-specific templates, after a March 31 tornado exposed timing gaps in notifications.
Speaker 3, the presenter, told the Houston County Commission that the county has moved to a new vendor that can use FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) to send both Emergency Alert System messages (TV and radio) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) to cell phones. "I titled this the future of emergency messaging on purpose," Speaker 3 said at the start of the presentation.
The presenter said the system can geofence alerts — drawing circles, polygons or other shapes — and deliver the same message to everyone within that shape anywhere in Houston County. He described creating 55 templates last summer for the county’s schools, including drill templates and real-alert templates, and recounted testing during tornado drills where administrators received the message and moved students to hallways.
Why it matters: the county’s existing outdoor siren network is limited in reach and cannot provide location-specific instructions.…
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