With El Niño-fueled storms dominating news headlines this week, the county’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) unveiled the Aware & Prepare Initiative, an enhanced notification alert system for Santa Barbara County. “It’s been a busy but productive week,” Robert Troy, OEM’s Deputy Director, said Thursday. “By and large, we’ve been fortunate.”
County residents can visit this website to register to receive alerts. The website functions as a hub of emergency preparedness information. Previously, the county used the notification service Nixle, which will remain active, although minimally, according to OEM Director Ryan Rockabrand.
The new Aware & Prepare Initiative allows residents to choose geographic and functional areas of interest so OEM may provide them with non-emergency info such as general preparedness, public meetings, and other things. Public safety officials can use the tool to inform residents based on specific geographic locations. Also built into the alert system is a function that allows emergency managers to send out messages to anyone with cell phone reception whether they opted in or not — similar to an Amber Alert.