Relax...It's a Drill for Ashe Residents

"This is only a test..."  If you live in Ashe County, you hopefully will get a strange phone call Thursday, that as the Ashe County Emergency Management Office will try out their CodeRED Emergency Notification System to call the entire community.  The calls will begin in the morning and will continue until the entire database has been attempted. This call will give Ashe County personnel the chance to operate the system as if there has been a community wide disaster.

The message that is being delivered directs recipients to the Ashe County website to add additional contact numbers, and it also asks that recipients spread the word by mentioning the system to family, friends and neighbors.  Ashe County Emergency Management Coordinator Patty McMeans wants all individuals and businesses to take the time to visit the website to add contact information to include cellular phones and other non-traditional phones as well as email and text addresses.  She said that "If your contact information is not in the database you will not receive a call when an urgent message is sent." In particular businesses should register, as well as individuals who have unlisted phone numbers, who have changed their phone number recently, and those who use a cellular phone exclusively or have VoIP phones (such as Vonage) as their primary numbers.

McMeans urges citizens to log onto the Emergency Management page of the Ashe County Government website at www.ashecountygov.com/EMS/index.htm and follow the CodeRED link near the top of the page. Those without Internet access may call 336-846-5522Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.