City of Richardson Community Emergency Notification System
Next Test: October 6, 2010
Quadrant 4 (map linked below)
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The City of Richardson has implemented a Community Emergency Notification System, which is meant to notify citizens during certain types of emergencies. The system being used is called Reverse 911®. It allows the City to rapidly notify residents and businesses by telephone. In the event of an emergency, an operator using the system can identify the affected neighborhood or region of the city and record a message that describes the situation. The System can make approximately 1,900 calls per hour. Therefore, the system is used during emergencies which have a long warning time or are targeted to very specific areas of the city. When you receive a phone call, the caller identification will display, "Richardson Emergency." This system will only be used in Richardson for emergencies and to test the emergency system. Therefore, the system will automatically call listed and unlisted telephone numbers within the affected area and deliver the recorded message. If phone lines are busy, the system will attempt to redial those numbers to make contact. If an answering machine picks up the call, the emergency message will be left on the machine.
What is Reverse 911®?
The Reverse 911® Community Notification System is built to pull up a selected grouping of phone numbers, call the number and play a recorded message giving emergency instructions to whoever receives the message. The system uses software to call selected phone numbers. The local 911 Service Provider supplies the phone numbers to create the database and the database is updated quarterly.
What phone numbers are not AUTOMATICALLY in the database?
Cellular phone numbers and VoIP phone numbers are not automaticallly part of the system. The database does contain "land-lines" which are also in the 911 database supplied by the phone company.
Sign Up for Cellular or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Service
If you would like to be contacted on your cellular or VoIP phone, you must register your number. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER or call 972-744-4244 and leave the following information: name, full address, cellular or VoIP phone number, and email address.
Please note, the service is for Richardson businesses and residences. Calls regarding property or situations outside the city are not covered. While phone numbers can be outside of Richardson service, you must enter a valid address within the boundaries of Richardson to be eligible for the service. Once you register your number, the registration is valid for 2 years at which point the system will contact you via the e-mail address provided to verify that the phone information is still valid. If the phone number is not confirmed and re-registered at that time, it will be removed from the database.
Benefits of Signing Up For Community Emergency Notification System
The system allows you to receive emergency notifications that affect your home. You don't have to purchase any new equipment and you'll only be notified of emergencies that affect the area where your home or business is located.
Privacy Notice and Disclaimer
The City of Richardson will not share or distribute personal information gathered by this form and will use it solely for the purpose of providing Community Emergency notifications and testing.
System Testing
The system is tested quarterly. For testing purposes, the system will utilize the Richardson Solid Waste Pick-up Quadrants. The first Wednesday of each quarter, a test call will be launched to the corresponding quadrant. Please click here for a map showing the quadrants. Because the first test is being conducted in the second quarter of the year, both quandrants 1 and 2 will be included in order for all quadrants to be tested once in 2009. Starting in 2010, each quadrant will be tested once per year.
2010 Testing Schedule:
January 6, 2010 - Quadrant 1
April 7, 2010 - Quadrant 2
July 7, 2010 - Quadrant 3
October 6, 2010 - Quadrant 4
Testing Note: If you live on the boundary of two quadrants, it is possible you may receive more than one test call. For example, if you live on the boundary of Quadrants 3 and 4, you may receive one test call for Quadrant 3 in July and a second test call for Quadrant 4 in October.
Community Emergency Notification System Guidelines
Types of events, which the system may be activated for:
– Missing / Abducted Child
– Missing Elderly
– VIPS/Fire Corp Activation
– Chemical Spills / HAZMAT Emergencies / Gas Leaks
– Evacuation
– Crime related situation causing an immediate threat to a specific area
– Public Health Concerns
– Flooding (excluding flash flooding)
– Drinking Water Contamination
– Street Closing due to emergency conditions
– Utility or Water Service outages
– Employee Notification: City Closing, EOC Activation, Shift Personnel Call Backs
Citizen Actions
If you receive a call from the system which is not a test:
- Listen to the entire recorded message and follow all instructions provided if possible.
- In emergency situations which warrant a call to notify citizens when a situation has been resolved, the original message will advise citizens that the system will send an all clear call when the sitution is resolved and it is safe to return to normal activities.
Additional Information
- At this time, the system will not be used for events such as severe thunderstorms or tornado warnings. Because the current capability of the system is to make approximately 1,900 calls per hour and warnings for these types of rapid moving weather events are usually 10-15 minutes, the situation does not allow enough time to effectively warn Richardson citizens via this system.
- For severe weather warning, it is recommended to secure a NOAA weather radio with Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) technology to provide dependable indoor warning information to your family.