Pick up: EMA creating phone alerts for weather emergencies

It's not a siren you might not be able to hear inside your home; instead, it's a telephone call from the Fairfield County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

Once this becomes active, people will just answer their phone and they will receive messages about the current emergency situation and what safety precautions they should be taking, said Jon Kochis, director of Fairfield County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Office.

Service provided

Alert-Fairfield County is a service provided by Twenty First Century Communications. The cost of the service is $22,000 and was paid for through FEMA grant, Kochis said.

We are going to have a test of the system on July 1, Kochis said. We already have 58,739 phone numbers in the county, but that means there are a lot we don't have.

The one important drawback to setting up the program is if residents have only cellular phone service or their home line is Voice of Internet Protocol (VOIP)-based. Fairfield County EMA doesn't have those phone numbers.

Cell phone or anything other than a land line

Registration is required if you use a cell phone or anything other than a land line, Kochis said. These two types of phone numbers can't be accessed without the permission of the user.

If you have a land line telephone service, you already are part of the system. However, if you have cellular service or Voice of Internet Protocol (VOIP)-based service, then you need to sign up to receive alert notices at www.fairfieldema.com/alerts.