During a recent townhall meeting on Emergency Planning, Commissioner Brian Jeppsen announced that a readiness exercise and systems test will be conducted in Oneida County on November 17.  The test will involve the use of the AlertSense notification system used by the county, which can be accessed and downloaded through the accompanying QR code.

Commissioner Jeppsen explained what residents can expect on that day:

“This exercise is intended for all residents of Oneida County and we would encourage as much participation as possible from the general public in order to be able to adequately evaluate our emergency communications protocol,” Jeppsen explained.

“The exercise will begin on Sunday, November 17th at approximately 6:55 pm. It will involve multiple methods of communication in order to reach the largest possible audience and will proceed as follows:

Oneida County Sheriff’s Dispatch will send out a “Reverse 911”alert message that will go to all listed landline phones in the county as well as all cell phone users who have signed up through the “Alert Sense” portal. This message will clearly indicate that this is NOT a real emergency, but simply an exercise to test out the communication system in the county. 

Soon after this alert message has been sent out through the phone system, an email will be sent out by all Zone Emergency Communication Specialists (ZECS) throughout the valley. This email will only be sent to those individuals who have signed up to receive “Alert Sense” messages.

Following the text and email alerts, (approximately 7:00pm) the ZECS will begin their weekly Radio Check using FRS/GMRS radio frequencies as assigned to each zone. (For information on the various zones, please refer to the forthcoming maps located on the county’s website: https://oneidaid.us/departments/emergency_services.php

Local HAM operators will also be monitoring this process in order to relay any weak or missed communications.

Once each zone has completed their reporting, each ZECS will report to the Zone Coordinator, who will then report to the County Emergency Management Specialist.

During this time, the County Emergency Manager will reach out to both Box Elder and Bannock County Emergency Communications personnel to test that resource as well.

By way of information, in the event of a real “significant event” (widespread county disaster) the alert system is designed to reach every individual in the county, via Reverse 911 regardless of whether they have landlines or not, and whether or not they have opted into the “Alert Sense” system. However, any emergency situation that is not elevated to that “significant event” level, will not trigger this countywide alert. One must opt in for those less severe alerts, i.e. weather warnings, road closures, power outages, etc. 

Once the exercise has been completed, there will be a debriefing and a report submitted to the County Emergency Manager and we will be happy to share that report with you as well.”

The App is called MyAlerts, and can be downloaded from the Google Playn Store or Apple Store.  The service can also be signed up for without an app at the following link: http://bit.ly/OCSOAlerts.

Further information discussed at the County Emergency Planning meeting will be shared in the paper in upcoming issues.