Recent Storms Affirm ALERT FM Use in Decatur County
Messages sent successfully
Decaturville, Tennessee- April 30, 2010- Decatur County emergency management director Kevin Cagle was pleased to announce today that the county’s new emergency notification system, ALERT FM, successfully sent weather warnings and post storm information from the emergency management office to citizens, businesses, and first responders during last Saturday’s severe thunderstorms and tornado. The National Weather Service confirmed an F1 tornado touched down near Bible’s Hill area in Decatur County. Funding for this system was obtained through a multi-county grant applied for by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.
“ALERT FM is a great tool for our county,” Cagle said. “I was able to keep citizens updated on the path of the tornado, how to take shelter, and what help was available to them after the tornado dissipated.”
ALERT FM delivers geo-targeted information via the data subcarrier of local FM radio stations, WFGZ (94.5), WLVS (106.5), and WKJQ (97.3), so that Decatur County officials can reach thousands of citizens with a single message. To be able to receive this timely information, citizens and business must own an ALERT FM receiver, which is available for purchase at the Radio Shack in Parsons TN or at www.alertfm.com for around $40.
Receivers can be programmed to receive county specific NWS weather warnings and emergency management public information. Because ALERT FM has been implemented as a regional system across western Tennessee, citizens and business can also chose to have additional counties programmed into their receivers.
(more)
“We are pleased that so many individuals and businesses are making a commitment to their personal safety by utilizing this new technology”, Jim Lowery, general manager of Global Security Systems, LLC (owner and operator of ALERT FM), said.
For more information visit www.alertfm.com.
###
About ALERT FM
ALERT FM is owned and operated by Global Security Systems, LLC (GSS) of Jackson, Miss. It is a personal alert and messaging system that enables state and local government and private sector officials to create and send emergency information to targeted recipients. Potential information includes severe weather warnings, homeland security notices, hurricane evacuation instructions, utility notices, plant or school closings, employee notifications and traffic alerts. First responders, school officials, citizens, and businesses can receive this information based on geographic or organizational groupings through specially designed ALERT FM receivers or any device equipped with a standard FM chip. ALERT FM has been implemented at the university, state, county and multi-county levels. More than 30 million people in 13 states have access to ALERT FM technology.
Decatur County AFM severe weather press release.pdf (84.28 kb)