Emergency service going to RAVE service

Cherokee County residents who want to keep their fingers on the pulse of what’s going on in and around the county can now sign up for the region’s newest emergency notification system.

As of Feb. 15, the East Texas Council of Governments (ETCOG) began the process of transferring Cherokee County’s reverse 911 Emergency Notification System to Rave Alert.

All public telephone records in the region have already been transferred to the Rave Mobile Safety system. However, cell phone users and individuals who registered online for notifications through CodeRED will need to register for the new system. Visit www.smart911.com to get signed up.

“All residents of Cherokee County who previously registered their information with CodeRED to receive emergency notifications will be required to re-register as the information previously provided to CodeRED will not transfer over,” Cherokee County Emergency Management Coordinator Sergio Servin said. “If you should have any questions or need any assistance please contact me – email emc@cocherokee.org or call (903) 683-5947.”

In the coming weeks, existing customers will receive a notification with a link to register their information in the new Rave system to ensure they continue to receive emergency alerts.

On Wednesday, Dec. 11, the ETCOG Executive Committee approved to fund a mass notification system for the East Texas region as a part of its public safety program for the 10th consecutive year.

The system allows ETCOG to partner with cities and counties in East Texas to send messages quickly notifying citizens about emergency situations such as:

• tornadoes and storm events;

• drinking water contamination;

• utility outages;

• evacuation notice and routes;

• missing persons;

• fires or floods;

• bomb threats;

• hostage or active shooter situations;

• chemical spills or gas leaks; and

• other emergency incidents where rapid and accurate notification is essential.

ETCOG began a new contract this year with Rave Mobile Safety to provide mass notification system services. This service had been contracted with CodeRED for the last nine years. Through the open procurement process, six competitive bids were received, and Rave was recommended to the ETCOG Executive Committee at its December meeting for offering new and improved service advantages.

“We are very excited to begin our service with Rave Mobile Safety,” ETCOG’s Public Safety Director Stephanie Heffner said. “The capacity to have unlimited minutes and unlimited users opens up the opportunity to partner with more jurisdictions in the region that may have not participated before. Also, we know many of our jurisdictions currently pay for weather warning services out of pocket, so we are happy to offer a cost saving opportunity with this new vendor.”

Rave Mobile Safety offers unlimited minutes/texting, and unlimited users of the system, as well as a new Weather Warning service which instantly and automatically alerts recipients based on weather in the area including type of weather, location, and severity. It also allows the user to provide more than 50 different language translations when deploying a notification and use this across several social media platforms.

The Rave system has been contracted for the service area of Anderson, Camp, Cherokee, Gregg, Harrison, Marion, Panola, Rains, Rusk, Smith, Upshur, Van Zandt and Wood counties. The new service agreement began Dec 13, 2019, and goes through Dec 12, 2020, for a total of $84,500 to be funded by ETCOG through a Homeland Security grant.

ETCOG, through its Public Safety program, works with the state to have fully deployed, advanced 9-1-1 services for wireless callers and help plan for Next Generation 9-1-1.

The program also supports first responders and plan regionally for disasters by partnering with the Texas Office of the Governor to coordinate Criminal Justice and Homeland Security Planning.

The Public Safety program encompasses three program areas: 9-1-1 Emergency Services, Criminal Justice, and Homeland Security.

Visit www.pineywoods911.com for details on ETCOG’s Public Safety Program.

The East Texas Council of Governments is a voluntary association of counties, cities, school districts and special districts within the 14-county East Texas region. ETCOG assists local governments in planning for common needs, cooperating for mutual benefit and coordinating for sound regional development.

Established in 1970, ETCOG, either directly, or through its contractors, provides programs and services for East Texas seniors, employers and job seekers.

ETCOG and its contractors also build the 9-1-1 emergency call delivery system, provide peace officer training and homeland security planning services; and deliver rural transportation services, business finance programs, and environmental grant funding for the region.

Check out ETCOG’s website, www.etcog.org.

Lindsey Vanderbilt contributed to this article.