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Dufferin County launches new automated warning system

September 28, 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Jasen Obermeyer

Dufferin County has launched its new automated warning system designed to protect residents in the event of an emergency situation resulting from a natural or unnatural disaster.

At the time of a press release announcing the launch, a little over 1,000 people have registered for Dufferin Alerts, which enables the county to notify its citizens via a call, text or email, in the event of an emergency such as a tornado or a flood.

“We’ve long recognized the need to notify our citizens when an emergency occurs,” said Steve Murphy, Dufferin’s emergency management coordinator. “We looked for a way that we could get very timely emergency messaging out to the pubic in the event of any one of a number of incidents.”

He said registering for the alert system is not limited to just one address or phone. “You can go in and you can put in your home address, you can put in your work address, you can put in the address of your children’s school, or your parents long term care home.”

Mr. Murphy explained that the system could customize who gets the alerts in the event of an immediate emergency situation, and can be as specific as notifying just one person or address in danger. “We’ve built the system so that we can target very specific geographical areas in the county.”

He added this system covers everyone, to help “bridge that gap” technologically, “so you don’t have to have a cellphone, you don’t have to have Internet.”

He said this system has been in the planning stages for two years, and has now reached that technological point to create a system that ensures everyone’s safety.

Although the system was launched at the same time as the provincial government’s similar Alert Ready System, Mr. Murphy said they actually complement each other. “So no matter where you are in Ontario, if you’re close to something that can be harmful to you or your family, you’re going to receive a notification.”

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