Sacramento emergency officials send mass notification system Thursday. Here’s what to do now
Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties conducted the annual testing of the Regional Mass Notification System at 10:20 a.m. on Thursday.
You might have seen a call from 833-422-5253, a text or email, or received an Amber Alert-like sound to your cellphone.
Sacramentans are able to respond to the alert by completing a survey link included with the message to help the county understand how far the alert reached. The survey will also help the county improve communication and alerting efforts, according to the news release.
Some people will get a call, text, email, or a combination of the three if they have signed up for Everbridge alerts. Those who haven’t opted-in are going to hear the loud tone and feel their phone vibrate from a federal Wireless Emergency Alert.
Residents of these areas are being asked to subscribe to the system so they will receive information specific to their regions during natural or human-made disasters. Notifications will go to those who opt-in and residential landlines in the 911 system.
“People should sign up so they’re not relying on notifications that may not reach them in time,” said Sacramento County spokeswoman Janna Haynes.
“In an evacuation situation you might have sheriffs knocking on doors, but that doesn’t give people enough time to gather their things or animals, for those living in more rural areas,” Haynes said.
In the event of a fire, flood, plane crash, train derailment, mass shooting, shelter in place or evacuation notice, this system is designed to alert people within the disaster zone without panicking those who are not in the area, said Haynes.
The Sacramento County website says the goal of the event is to encourage people to opt-in to the system, educate people on the need for the alert and test the capacity of the system.
How do I subscribe for calls and texts?
People will sign up using Everbridge, an “opt-in,” address-based system that allows for more precise geographical targeted alerts, according to the Sacramento County website.
To register online for calls, phone alerts and emails, go to Sacramento-Alert.org, Placer-Alert.org or Yolo-Alert.org. You can sign up on one or all of these websites, depending on the counties you live and work in.
Those who work in one county but live or have children going to school in another county might want to sign up for alerts in all of the areas they are affiliated with.
In this case, Sacramento County encourages people to sign up with multiple addresses and devices.
After registering online, you can download the Everbridge App receive push-alert notifications.
People who have already subscribed or have residential landlines registered in the 911 data system saw the phone number 833-422-5253 during the test. You can save the number as “Emergency Alert,” according to a press release.
For Verizon customers, this number will have a misspelled caller ID of “Sacremento”, and people should rename the contact so they recognize it as an alert.
The misspelling happened when Verizon Wireless set up the tri-county account, according to the Sacramento County website. Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services is continuing to work with Verizon to correct the issue.
Where will the alerts be sent?
Sacramento County (incorporated and unincorporated). Cities include:
- Sacramento
- Folsom
- Elk Grove
- Citrus Heights
- Rancho Cordova
- Galt
- Isleton
Yolo County. Cities include:
- West Sacramento
- Davis
- Woodland
- Winters
- Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation*
Placer County. Cities include:
- Roseville
- Rocklin
What is a Wireless Emergency Alert?
The federal emergency system uses geographically drawn boundaries to send alerts.
The alerts that pop up on your phone are from the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA), a federal emergency system, which will also be tested on Thursday.
“This system is pushed out regardless,” said Haynes. “It’s not necessarily the system of choice. We like the opt-in system because we can specify zip codes, so we can choose to alert specific areas.”
WEA System alerts are similar to Amber Alerts. Both alerts cause cell phones to vibrate and omit a different tone than a ringing phone, according to the Sacramento County website.
This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Sacramento emergency officials send mass notification system Thursday. Here’s what to do now."