During the southern California wildfires last October, the community of San Diego learned firsthand how Reverse 911 works. Mass evacuation orders were sent out using an emergency phone dialing system commonly known as “Reverse 911.” Imagine being sound asleep and having your phone ring, instructing you to evacuate your home - NOW!
This was a large scale test of this type of emergency phone system. It’s important to note that I’m using the term “Reverse 911″ generically and that several similar systems are used. For example, the county of San Diego also sent out evacuation orders over a phone dialing system called a “Universal Communications System.” I live in a different county which uses yet another system called the “Riverside County Early Warning Notification System.” Likewise my city has its own “Emergency Notification System.”
For the most part, Reverse 911 got the word out and the evacuations safely took place. However, a few discoveries were made along the way. For one, most Reverse 911systems use a database of phone numbers typically provided by phone utilities. What about people who have cut their land lines for good? Many people have switched to cell phones or VoIP as their communication tool of choice. If you’re one of these people, you can’t assume that you’ll be called in an emergency. Unless you request to be listed in the Reverse 911 directory, you might not get the phone call.
What to do? As the wildfires spread, these concerns crossed my mind. I have VoIP and a cell phone - neither of which would be called should the flames head my way. I checked with my city as well as the county and neither offered a way to add my VoIP and cell phone numbers into the Reverse 911 system at the time. I was on my own.
Fortunately, enough citizens expressed the same concerns and now the city and the county allow residents to add their alternative phone numbers to the Reverse 911 database. In both cases, all I had to do was go to the appropriate Web site and register my phone numbers. It took all of five minutes to do and now, I can rest easy, knowing that should something terrible happen while I sleep, I too will get the phone call telling me what to do.
If your community has a Reverse 911 system, early warning notification system, universal communications system, or any other automated emergency phone dialer and you do not have a traditional phone, do your homework and find out how to add your VoIP or cell phone number to the database. Not all communities offer these systems and not all have systems in place for adding alternative phone numbers to the system. Speak up now, before disaster strikes.
Celeste Stewart | August 14th, 2008
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Celeste, please take care when using the term “Reverse 911″ and also when indicating there were may not have been options to sign up unlisted, VoIP and cell phone numbers. The City of San Diego used a system from a competitor, which was called “Reverse 911). The San Diego County EMA, which placed the vast majority of calls for the San Diego evacuation used a service provided by Twenty First Century Communications called the “Universal Communications System” and not “Reverse 911″. The Universal Communications System does have the ability for residents to register numbers in addition to ones obtained from EMA or 911 agencies.
Thank you for pointing out the differences. I imagine each city/county combination across the country has different options (or no options at all) which makes it important for those of us on alternative phone lines to find out exactly which systems are in place in our communities and do our part to make sure we are listed.
I’ll go back and edit my article to clarify that different systems exist, not all of which are called “Reverse 911.”
Thanks again for your input.