21-04-2025
Centre County Emergency Management urges residents to use new emergency alert system
CENTRE COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — A new emergency mass notification service called ALERTCentre is providing reliable and faster notifications to residents during emergency events.
ALERTCentre is provided by Rave Mobile Safety, a Motorola company. The Centre County Emergency Management, in cooperation with Centre County 911 Emergency Communications, has implemented the new service for its speed, reliability, and accuracy during the emergency events.
'This gives them advanced warning to hopefully make emergency movement to put themselves in a protective area,' Deputy Director for Emergency Management Domer Smeltzer said.
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ALERTCentre will notify residents of missing people, floods, evacuations, shelter in place, broadcast wanted fugitives, active violence incidents, and any other life-threatening critical emergencies.
'Our biggest thing in Centre County is flooding events. So the different areas that are prone to flooding, this will give us an opportunity if we see the water is going to start rising quickly, and that we can get this alert to them and allow them to evacuate before it gets too bad,' Smeltzer said.
When receiving alerts, it's based on the address of the incident.
'Each municipality in Centre County is has designated boundaries. So if we need to send it to a specific municipality, we can. This could be as much as county-wide, right down to two or three homes if we needed to,' Smeltzer said.
Smeltzer added that areas with large gatherings, such as the Centre County Grange Fairgrounds, have their own boundaries. He says that the wide-open space and the number of people getting alerts out gives them a chance to take cover.
Enrollment for the service is completely free and totally voluntary. By self-enrolling, residents will have the ability to build a custom dataset with information about their residence and families. All information entered into ALERTCentre by residents is private.
To sign up you can go to the Centre County Smart911 website. You have the option to select the method you want to use to receive the alert.
Smeltzer says trying to get as many people signed up as possible is crucial. This will help residents receive information quicker, help responders if someone is in danger, and more.
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