August 27, 2007
Contact: Tony Tucker (545-8160) or Janet Scott (545-8162)


Chatham County Emergency Operations has announced a new system, CodeRED, which allows residents and businesses to receive timely notification by phone of emergencies or disasters, such as evacuation notices or dangerous conditions in their community.

CodeRED gives the county the ability to deliver pre-recorded emergency phone notifications and messages to either targeted areas of the county or to the entire county at a rate of up to 60,000 calls per hour, said Tony Tucker, director of Emergency Operations. "The system not only delivers important messages faster, it gives businesses and individuals the ability to add their own phone numbers directly to the system's telephone database."

Tucker warns that the system is only as good as the telephone database supporting it, so it is "critical for our residents and businesses to make sure that they provide accurate contact information or they will not be called. Do not assume that records are updated."

It is especially critical for those who have moved to a new address or changed phone numbers in the past three months, who have an unlisted phone number or who use a cell phone as their main home or business line.

Residents and businesses can easily register any desired phone numbers by completing a brief online form. To sign up, visit the county website at http://www.chathamnc.org/codered and click on the CodeRED logo to register. Other information on that page further describes the program and how it works.

Those without website access can contact the Emergency Operations office at 919-545-8163 from 8 am-5 pm on Monday-Friday to provide their information by phone.

"It is important to provide your street address, not a post office box, because the system is based on notifying people by geographic location. Cells phones can be on the list, but have to be linked to a street address," Tucker said.

He added that it is important for people to know that the county is not liable for situations where CodeRED is unable to notify people on the call list. This can happen for a number of reasons, such as damaged phone lines, busy signals, lack of voice mail and potential glitches in the CodeRED system.

The CodeRED system will not be used for any non-emergency situations, said Tucker. "We want people to know that there are strict policies on the types of situations that will trigger an alert through CodeRED."

Tucker added that "we do have a way for people to opt out of being called, but it is important for those who do this to know that it means they are choosing not to receive notices about issues that could directly affect their health or safety. In other words, you cannot pick and choose the types of notices received," Tucker said.

To opt out of being called through CodeRED, visit the webpage (http://www.chathamnc.org/codered) and look for the No Call List information at the bottom of the page. This includes a link to a release form that you can print off, complete and return to the Emergency Operations office, or call 919-545-8163 on Monday-Friday, 8am to 5 pm, to have a form mailed to you.

Residents are not removed from CodeRED until the form has been received by the Emergency Operations office.

Emergency Operations contracted with Emergency Communications Network, Inc. based in Ormond Beach, Florida, for the CodeRED service after reviewing other emergency notification options available to local governments, said Tucker.