A new emergency notification tool is now available to Lincoln County community members. The Central Lincoln County School System – AOS 93 – is partnering with Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Management Agency to connect the community with this resource.
AOS 93 administrators and representatives from the sheriff’s office and EMA met at the superintendent’s office on March 4 to discuss the emergency management system.
This new tool is the CodeRED emergency notification system, which enables state and local agencies to deliver local, time sensitive information to those who have registered with the free service. The system operates around the country, so no matter where one travels they can receive notifications in their vicinity.
Notifications can be sent to users via email, text, voice message, push notifications, and more depending on the severity of the emergency.
CodeRED is not just a tool for notifying the public of major emergencies; it can also be used by travelers to avoid potential hazards and hassles like closed roads, active emergency scenes, water main breaks, and more.
“It helps people on scene, too, because they don’t have a lot of traffic to deal with, which makes it safer for them,” Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency Director Casey Stevens said.
The CodeRED app is available for free download on Google Play and Apple store.
AOS 93 administrators also added links to the CodeRED website at aos93.org and all of the Central Lincoln County school websites where members of the community can sign up. Parents can also set up the app so that they only receive notifications regarding their child’s school.
Assistant Superintendent Lynsey Johnston said that parents would not receive notifications regarding things like snow days or delays, but rather events requiring emergency service responses to schools like fires.
Chief Deputy Rand Maker with the sheriff’s office said the goal of using CodeRED in collaboration with local schools, large employers, and other public entities is to share accurate information with the public as quickly, if not more quickly than it can spread on social media and potentially become inaccurate.
“What we want to do is, in those events, be able to have a one-stop shopping, true official information coming out, and so this CodeRED will allow parents … to get real, true, up-to-date, real-time information from … authorities,” Maker said.
Maker said partnerships like that with AOS 93 also allow the sheriff’s office and EMA to build a user base for CodeRED that will be immensely important when they need to share county-wide emergency information with the public efficiently and effectively.
“We’re looking for it more for the everyday stuff, the common stuff … (like) the car accidents, the fires that cause traffic congestion, or major storms,” Maker said.
According to a statement from AOS 93 Superintendent Craig Jurgensen, CodeRED will only be used as an additional line of notification for parents connected to the AOS 93 system; they will continue to receive communications from their own schools as they have in the past.
Stevens said that EMA is working on getting more consistency with reporting through the service across the county and enabling more individuals to send out alerts through the system.
He said that EMA would also like to foster similar partnerships with every Lincoln County school and district.
For more information about EMA or CodeRED go to lincolncountyema.net.
