ALFRED — A telephone message sent out by York County Emergency Management Agency to about 98,000 county residents Friday afternoon, testing the Code Red emergency notification system, had some residents thinking the call was a scam.
It isn’t, but EMA officials have halted the calls for now, and will contact first responders and media partners to get the word out about the next test session, said interim EMA director David Francoeur.
The county contracted with the Emergency Communications Network to provide the Code Red system, which allows EMA officials to quickly record and broadcast a message to send to local residents in the event of an emergency, however they wish to receive it ”“ landline or cellphone, email or text message.
Many landline telephone numbers were already in the system, and those residents received a test message Friday. Some residents called the county EMA wondering if the message was legitimate. Others called the Journal Tribune.
“This is not a way to do business,” Barbara Coleman told the Journal. She also called EMA to register her dismay. “They need more information to the public on this.”
Coleman, of Saco, suggested that the York County EMA put out a public service announcement on television before making calls again.
York County EMA announced the new CodeRed system at a press conference in early March. WMTW Channel 8, the Journal Tribune and the Sanford News attended. At the time, the agency had indicated there would be a test within a few weeks, but hadn’t selected a date.
Assistant EMA director Blain Cote said the agency had received a number of calls Friday afternoon.
“We are sorry for any issues that may have come out of the calls from the new countywide alert and warning system,” said Francoeur, the interim director. “We did collect data that will keep us safer in the event of an actual emergency.”
The calls that went out Friday notified residents of the program and invited them to post further information on the county website.
Here is the text of the message:
“This is the York County Emergency Management Agency with an important message for all residents and businesses located in York County, Mainers. We have licensed the CodeRed Community Notification System to help disseminate important or critical information.
We encourage all residents and businesses to go to the yorkcountyme.gov website, click on the CodeRed logo located in the center of the homepage and enter their contact information, including additional phone numbers, and text and email addresses, to ensure all of the data in our system is accurate and current.
“If you know of anyone who did not receive this call who lives in York County please encourage them to visit the County website and enter their information.
“If you do not have Internet access, please contact a friend or family member to help add your contact information to the emergency database. You can also call the York County EMA directly at 207-324-1578 for assistance. That is 207-324-1578,” the message concludes.
The county EMA contracted with the Emergency Communications Network, LLC to provide the service to help them keep residents informed in case of a weather emergency or if there’s a child lost in the woods or if some other emergency strikes.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, Ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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