The Daily Citizen
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Whitfield County is looking for all of our help in providing information that could help save your life in an emergency or disaster situation.
Whitfield County Emergency Services says it is ready to re-roll out its Reverse 911 system and officials are asking local residents to provide their contact information to them.
The re-roll out is necessary because of all of the changes to local addresses that have occurred in the last several years.
Reverse 911 uses a database of addresses and phone numbers to contact residents who live close to the site of a chemical release.
“Because there have been a lot of changes with addresses over the past couple of years, we want more people to opt in and sign up to be on our Reverse 911 system,” said Jeffery Ownby, interim 911 director.
While the system uses information already available through the phone company, land-line numbers may not always be the best way to get in touch with residents, said Claude Craig, Whitfield Emergency Management director.
“We really want people to opt in to the system and give us additional information,” Ownby said, including their cell phone numbers, fax machine numbers, e-mail addresses and, for the deaf, TDD numbers. “The more ways we have to get in touch with you, the more likely we are to reach you.”
Especially in the daytime, Craig said, when a lot of people are at work. The system is also open to people who work in Whitfield County but don’t live here.
While not everyone is happy with the way the readdressing project went, that is no reason not to help the county compile as complete a contact list for its Reverse 911 system as possible.
The system is only used in case of emergencies to warn people of a potential deadly situation, and the more county officials know about how to get a hold of you the greater the likelihood is that you will get that warning in time.
For people concerned about their privacy, Ownby said the information will never be sold to other companies and will only be used for contact purposes by Reverse 911.
In this day and age, we are all reluctant to hand our cell phone number and e-mail address to just anybody.
But in this case, letting county officials have that information could end up saving your life.
Do the smart thing and sign up for Reverse 911. We hope it never has to be used, but if it is you will want your numbers in the system.
How to sign up: You can opt in to the Reverse 911 system in several ways. Visit the Whitfield County website at www.whitfieldcountyga.com/E911/reverse_911.htm or the city of Dalton website at http://cityofdalton-ga.gov/index.php?option=com_surveys&Itemid=379&act=view_survey&survey=Reverse+911+Form. You can also stop by the 911 Center at 804 Professional Blvd. to fill out a form or you can call Amy Cooley at (706) 876-2517.
