REMINDER: Eau Claire Emergency Management has alerting software that could save your life

Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Justin Esterly | WQOW

Eau Claire (WQOW) - After police got the 911 call about an active shooter in Middleton Wednesday, businesses in the area got an alert to lock their doors. Eau Claire County Emergency Management has a system in place to alert you of emergency situations too; but you have to make sure to sign up for them.

Once you sign up, alerts about active shooters or any other emergency will be sent directly to your phone. The software, called Smart911, was rolled out by Eau Claire Emergency Management last March, and sends messages directly to those who have enrolled.

However, emergency management officials said only 715 of the 100,000+ people in Eau Claire County are signed up.

"It's got the ability to send out messages to phones' email, text messages, phone calls, whatever you really sign up for you can get," Eau Claire County Emergency Management Coordinator Tyler Esh told News 18.  "The idea behind it is to notify the public of whatever major incident is going on."

Landlines for businesses and homes are automatically enrolled, but will only get alerts in high-threat situations.

You can sign up for alerts in Eau Claire County by clicking here.

Note: Other counties may have different alerting systems, and Amber/Silver/Green Alerts, and messages from FEMA are separate.

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