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Buffalo County describes Buffalo Watch and iPAWS as wildfire and evacuation alert tools
Summary
At the Kearney City Council meeting, Buffalo County Emergency Management Director Darren Lewis explained Buffalo Watch geo-targeting and FEMA's iPAWS system can be used to send cell‑phone alerts to people in a threatened area for life‑threatening evacuations.
Darren Lewis described Buffalo Watch, a free Buffalo County notification system that allows residents to register addresses and receive geo‑targeted alerts, and he urged residents to choose the alert types most important to them rather than selecting every category.
Lewis also explained that Buffalo County can use iPAWS (the FEMA Integrated Public Alert and Warning System) to send life‑threatening evacuation messages directly to cell phones in a defined area. “We have within that system, we have what's called iPAWS, which is the the FEMA, notification system,” Lewis said, adding that county officials may use it for evacuation notices when incident commanders determine the situation is life‑threatening.
