Gatlinburg and Sevier County officials also have upgraded the CodeRed mobile alert program, plan to add road signs to direct visitors to main roads and hope to have disaster information brochures placed in rental properties.
Gatlinburg already had spent $215,201 on a Federal Signal multi-functional notification system to replace the decades-old flood warning sirens in the downtown area, according to city Finance Director Robert L. Holt. Flames during the Nov. 28 wildfires damaged those four sirens. The new system has five sirens.
The downtown sirens were activated May 19, Holt said. The system is accessible by wire and wireless options, including smart phones, tablets or radio.
Gatlinburg City Manager Cindy Ogle said Thursday a $500,000 Phase II of the emergency notification system was being installed. She said the areas covered by the notification system - which includes a siren and public address capability - include Chalet Village, North Chalet Village and the Spur (Gatlinburg Bypass).
The city's Facebook page states four more sirens will be added in Phase II and includes Ski Mountain in the communities covered by the new system.
Gatlinburg officials approved the new system as an emergency purchase, so no bidding process was required. City Fire Chief Greg Miller and Police Chief Randall Brackins provided a wish list of emergency functions for the new system.
Sevier County Emergency Management Agency Director John Mathews said the system offers a wide array of emergency notification venues.
The system can activate phone and text alerts for those registered for the CodeRed program, broadcast emergency information over an AM radio station, issue alerts through the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System and access the National Weather Service's Emergency Alert System sent to televisions and radios.
The system is capable of pushing messages across various platforms, including email, social media, desktop alerts and message boards.
The IPAWS sends emergency alerts to every cellular phone in a certain geographic area and doesn’t require registering or downloading a program. Mathews said the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency already has approved Gatlinburg's application to access the IPAWS program.
Gatlinburg authorities tried to use the IPAWS to send evacuation messages to all mobile phones in Sevier County during the wildfires, but had to request TEMA send the alert. Gatlinburg and Sevier County were not authorized by FEMA to access the system.
Communication problems between Nashville and Gatlinburg, however, thwarted officials from sending the IPAWS evacuation alert.
Since the wildfires, Ogle authorized the city and the Gatlinburg Police Department to establish Facebook accounts, Holt said. The social media accounts were established March 31.
As of Aug. 3, the police department's account recorded 1,470 likes and the city's Facebook page had 544 followers.
Sevier County also has made strides regarding public notifications.
Officials in Gatlinburg and Sevierville said the county upgraded its CodeRed public alert system. The upgrade allowed each of those cities to list the service on the cities' websites. Residents also can register for emergency and weather alerts on those websites.
CodeRed is a subscription service Sevier County pays that allows residents and visitors to register for emergency alerts. Registrants provide a phone number or an email address to receive the alerts.
Under the previous subscription, only Sevier County officials could issue an alert and registration was only available on the county's website.The upgraded program allows city officials in Gatlinburg, Sevierville or Pigeon Forge to send out emergency alerts.
Sevier County spokesman Perrin Anderson on Thursday said CodeRed registrations show the program will deliver 11,236 alerts through phone calls, texts and emails. That’s more than twice the 4,837 alert requests logged Nov. 28 through the CodeRed program.
Anderson said the upgraded program this year offers the option of receiving weather alerts. He said 1,824 registrations were listed for the new service.
For now, however, Anderson said Sevier County has not embraced social media to communicate with the public during emergencies.
When retired emergency planner Mark Robinson and his family checked into a rental cabin Nov. 28, on Ski Mountain, they found in plain view a brochure about bear safety.
The West Knox County man said the information was helpful and proactive for visitors’ safety, especially for those who don’t encounter black bears in their hometowns. The brochure included information about securing trash receptacles to not attract foraging bears and how to act during a chance meeting.
“It really made a lot of sense to have that in the cabin,” he said. “But they could do more.”
After escaping wildfire flames that marched toward the cabin, Robinson said authorities could include maps of potential evacuation routes in those brochures. It would have been helpful the night his caravan of SUVs fled the flames because he was unaware of two other escape routes off Ski Mountain.
“It requires planning and communications,” he said. “They could work with the hotel association and put in every room a flyer.”
Mathews said Thursday the county has applied for a grant to print brochures with disaster information to be placed in every rental cabin.
Mathews said Gatlinburg also has retained an engineering company to review installation of reflective road signs in some communities. The signs, he said, would direct drivers to the nearest main road.
Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters said Thursday he has been told by emergency planners the terrain of Gatlinburg and Sevier County prohibits designating evacuation routes. The proposed road signs, however, would at least direct visitors unfamiliar with local roads to a main road.
Robinson, who had written a letter to Gov. Bill Haslam complaining of Gatlinburg's lack of emergency planning, was impressed with public safety enhancements underway.
With the creation of social media sites, an upgraded emergency notification system, easier CodeRed access, adding informational signs and disaster brochures and the application to access IPAWS, Robinson said Gatlinburg officials were improving the landscape of public safety.
“If I were to characterize the situation, I would say they want to do good things, but they don’t want to say they did bad things,” he said.
©2017 the Knoxville News-Sentinel (Knoxville, Tenn.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
