On May 29, the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services (OES) received the San Diego Taxpayers Association's Golden Watchdog Award for AlertSanDiego, the county's mass notification system provided by Twenty First Century Communications (TFCC) of Columbus, Ohio.
"The County of San Diego has invested heavily in its emergency preparedness systems so that we can protect the public in an emergency and AlertSanDiego has proven to be one of our best investments," said Greg Cox, Chairman of the County Board of Supervisors. "AlertSanDiego received national praise and attention for its role in safely evacuating more than 515,000 people during the 2007 fires and we can say without a doubt that it saved lives."
In addition to calling residents' home phones, AlertSanDiego allows residents to register cell phones, SMS devices, e-mail, fax, and TTY information online to receive alerts during an emergency. The Taxpayers Association praised the county for eliminating overhead expenses of servers, phones and maintenance. Those wishing to register can do so online.
"I don't know how we could have possibly evacuated 515,000 people safely without it. Not one citizen, despite these six very dangerous wildfires, was caught in a fire during the evacuation," stated Ron Lane, San Diego County's Director of the Office of Emergency Services.
Within a month of the fires, Twenty First Century uploaded custom online maps developed by San Diego County's GIS teams showing the fire perimeter. During heavy rains, TFCC alerted 90,000 people vulnerable to flood, mudslides and debris flow.
TFCC congratulates the county for this honor and for its safe and successful evacuations. "We are proud to have been of service to San Diego County in its time of need," said Jim Kennedy, president and founder of Twenty First Century Communications. "This award is much deserved."
Twenty First Century provides its emergency alert system to numerous city, county, public safety and government agencies nationwide. The company's system has also helped recover a missing child, warned utility customers of an attempted fraud, sent heat wave safety tips to senior citizens, and helped reunite families after Hurricane Katrina.
