On Dec. 6, Isabella County is switching to a new emergency management alert program called Smart 911.
“We made the move to switch from CODERED to Smart 911 because Smart 911 offers more integrations to the 911 center where we’re dispatching help,” said Isabella County 911 and Emergency Management Director McCarther Griffis. “It also lets the end user. the person signing up, customize what alerts they want to be alerted to, and how.”
That includes weather alerts like flooding or tornados, along with local alerts from Central Dispatch.
“They can select whether it’s watches or warnings they want to be notified about, and whether it’s emails, texts or phone calls that they’d like to receive,” said Griffis.
By making a Smart 911 profile, you can also add information that will be helpful for central dispatchers.
“It could be your name, phone number, location of your house, your pets, your medication, maybe your vehicle,” said Griffis. “Anywhere you dial Smart 911 from, that information will come into the 911 center, and help the dispatcher locate and find you.”
You can sign up through your phone, or your computer. You don’t need a smartphone to receive alerts.
“It helps 911 keep the public informed of emergencies” said Griffis. “We work with the first responders about what information they would like to have during a disaster or an emergency situation go out to the public. It also helps the public to know that that is a reliable source of information that’s coming through.”
To sign up for Smart 911, you can follow the Isabella County Central Dispatch link , or go directly to Smart 911’s website .
The county will be alerting CODERED users on Nov. 23 around 6:00 to sign up for Smart 911.
The county will officially switch over to Smart 911 on Dec. 6 at midnight.
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