City of Kent to Implement Emergency Notification System

KENT, Wash. – July 24, 2009 –The City of Kent has contracted with Emergency Communications Network, Inc. for its "CodeRED" high-speed emergency notification services.

Scheduled to be operational by October 1, 2009, the CodeRED system gives City officials the ability to deliver urgent pre-recorded telephone, cell phone, email or text messages to targeted areas, or the entire community, at a rate of up to 60,000 per hour.

Kent’s Emergency Manager, Dominic Marzano said the system is a great way to notify residents during emergencies.  “It will be especially useful should we have flooding this winter.”

Messages could be sent for emergencies including hazardous material spills, illness outbreaks or other urgent situations such as a missing person. 

All messages will begin with “This is an emergency CodeRED message from the City of Kent.” If a phone is not answered, the system will try again, up to three times, leaving a message on the final attempt.

Marzano said the system is capable of sending messages in a text format to hearing- impaired individual’s using TTY/TDD equipment.  “It also allows the ability to record more than one message to accommodate multiple languages.”

Marzano cautioned that the system is only as good as the database supporting it. “The database the City will use contains the numbers of most landlines in the community, but does not include residents’ unlisted work or cell numbers or email addresses,” Marzano said. "If your information is not in the database, you will not be contacted."

Once the system is operational, residents and businesses will be directed to an online database to ensure their contact information is current and included.

Contact:
Michelle Witham, City of Kent
253-856-5709
mwitham@kentwa.gov