County to use high-tech emergency notification system

• PHOTO: Albers

Dean Albers

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Goodhue County officials will soon be able to notify thousands of residents of an emergency within seconds.

Officials expect to have the Code Red notification system up and running by the end of the year. The high-speed Web-based system can reach Goodhue County residents via land line, cell phone, text message and e-mail.

Officials told commissioners Tuesday the system would only be used for public safety reasons, such as if people need to evacuate their homes or businesses because of a gas leak, chemical spill or nuclear plant emergency.

It can also be used to alert a neighborhood of a lost child, missing adult or escaped convict.

"This is a leap in technology," Sheriff Dean Albers said. "The beauty of this is it's so fast."

The $15,000 needed annually for the system will come from a grant the county receives each year to maintain emergency services to the Prairie Island nuclear plant.

"I think because we have a nuclear power plant and a dam are just two of the reasons why we should do it," Commissioner Ron Allen said.

The county's current notification system is slow and cannot contact cell phones, Albers said.

All county land lines will automatically be notified using Code Red. Residents who want to receive cell phone, text or e-mail alerts will need to register on the county's Web site starting early next year.

Albers said the information will be kept private. "The main thing is that people can be notified," he said.

Officials will be able to notify specific areas affected by an emergency and can create preprogrammed lists so the public can be notified in seconds, said Diane Richter-Biwer, the county's emergency management director.

"It would really save a lot of time," she said, adding that Dakota and Winona counties currently use the system.

This summer, Code Red sent evacuation orders out in five minutes to 3,000 St. Charles, Minn., residents after a large fire broke out at the town's meat processing plant.

"Judging from what other counties have done, they've made it work and they've made it work well," Albers said.

Tags: local government, goodhue county board, goodhue county mn, code red, news