Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Notifications topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents tell commission volunteer fire crews missed text alerts; county urges radio use as primary notification
Summary
A resident said Alta Zeta volunteer firefighters failed to receive text/page alerts for a structure fire; DES coordinator said the county uses the I Am Responding app and vendor-driven text paging but advised that hand-held radios are still the primary notification method while staff continue to troubleshoot phone/carrier delivery problems.
At the Jan. 21 meeting, a resident raised concerns that the Alta Zeta volunteer fire department did not reliably receive alert messages during a structure fire the night before.
The resident said some people did not receive anything, and for those who did the text only said "fire" without a location. Georgia Bruske, the county DES coordinator, told the commission that the county uses the I Am Responding app and a vendor tab-text paging system; she said staff are working with the vendor and carriers because some calls are being treated as scams or filtered. "If they have the I am responding and they have the app, they will get it," she said, and recommended that first responders ensure their handheld radios are on because radio pages continue to be the most reliable notification channel.
Bruske and staff asked fire chiefs to submit lists of personnel phone numbers and carriers so staff can verify entries in both the app and paging system; the board heard that some rural responders rely on flip phones or have spotty cell service, which can prevent text delivery. Commissioners asked staff to continue troubleshooting and follow up with local chiefs.
