Emergency Management unveils ‘A!ert Suwannee’ system

July 28--LIVE OAK -- The next time an emergency situation arises in Suwannee County, the Department of Emergency Management will have another tool to use to protect county residents.

The county's Emergency Management office unveiled the "A!ert Suwannee" emergency notification system this week, allowing it the ability to send out mass notification alerts.

Through the emergency notification system, Suwannee County residents are able to register at https://member.everbridge.net/index/892807736725570#/login to receive alerts in regards to different situations from school closures to road closures, community events to public safety information. There are also countless different weather alerts that can be sent out.

"What it is is kind of like a reverse 911," said Suwannee County Sheriff Sam St. John, who oversees the emergency management office. "People register on it and then if we have an issue in the area up there in the north end of the county, we can actually call the people in that area, do a little robo call, just make contact with them and let them know we're having an issue up there.

"If we have a storm, we can make contact with people in that area."

The system will allow Suwannee County officials to target certain areas of the county depending on the event taking place or the entire county.

According to Kimberly Thomas, the county's Emergency Management assistant director, the notifications can be pinpointed within a mile of a location or sent out as broad as 100 miles of the set location.

"We've been wanting it," Thomas said. "It was just a matter of timing.

"Now that we have it, this will basically insure a unified message for life and public safety."

The system also allows residents to choose how they want to be contacted, whether that be by a text message, email or phone call with multiple contact options for each.

When the system sends out an alert, it will continue to try and reach the registered resident using those contact paths until it receives confirmation that the notification was received.

"If we have a tornado touching down in a certain area, we can call people in that area," St. John added. "It's just used to target certain areas. Everybody has cell numbers, this will give us access to contact them via cell and make sure they're OK."

While it will primarily be used for emergency situations, St. John said it could also be utilized for law enforcement purposes as well.

"We can use it, too, if we're having a manhunt in the area and let people know we're looking for this guy and if you see something, let us know," he said.

Thomas added that in that scenario, the system will allow officials to include a photo, tattoos, distinguishing marks in addition to a description.

"The system is absolutely amazing," she said.

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