COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) – North Idaho residents are going to have to start listening when they get automated telephone calls, even in the middle of dinner.
The Panhandle Health District recently installed a system in the Kootenai County 911 Center that allows emergency officials to send recorded phone messages the next time a disaster strikes. Using computerized maps, the so-called Reverse 911 system can send calls to all numbers in the five northern counties, or target specific areas.
The $32,000 software was bought with grants from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kootenai County has agreed to pay about $30,000 for the program’s first three years of operation, but county officials hope that Boundary, Bonner, Benewah and Shoshone counties will come on board to help cover costs.
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe also contributed $5,000 to the project and will use the system.
The new system is ”not perfect, but it’s a whole lot better than trying to knock on doors,” Kootenai County 911 Director Brad Coughenour said.
In its first test, about 10,000 Coeur d’Alene residents received calls warning them a 4:30 a.m. fireworks show would take place during the live ”Good Morning America” broadcast on Nov. 28.
The automated calls mispronounced ”Kootenai” and ”Coeur d’Alene,” but warned people about the pre-dawn blasts that normally would have overwhelmed the 911 Center with calls from spooked residents.
Coughenour said it was a good test run to ensure the system worked, discover kinks and inform the public of the new communication tool.
Within weeks, the health district will notify residents how to put their cell numbers, faxes and e-mail addresses on the call list.
If people hang up on the automated system, it will call back. Emergency workers will monitor the system; if nobody answers or an answering machine or voice mail picks up, after three attempted calls the workers will make direct contact with that address.
Previously when disaster struck, residents were notified by the Emergency Alert System, the loud beeping signal that interrupts radio and television broadcasts, or by media advisories.
”That doesn’t do any good if your TV or radio isn’t on,” said Sandy VonBehren, Kootenai County Office of Emergency Management director. ”But if you are at home and the phone rings, that’s one more way to get word out.”
In the past, if emergency workers needed to evacuate a specific area, sheriff’s deputies went door to door. The phone system is expected to free up manpower and let emergency crews do their work instead of spending hours trying to notify residents.
Although the system is similar to those used by telemarketers and political candidates, it is only for public emergency needs.
”We want to make sure when people get that call, it’s important to listen to and not some ad for a candidate or nuisance call,” health district spokesman Cynthia Taggart said.