Wide Area Rapid Notification News

Mason County, WV

Point Pleasant, WV -- Mason County Director of 911 and Office of Emergency Services, Chuck Blake, and the Mason County Local Emergency Planning Committee today unveiled the W.A.R.N. emergency notification system that will quickly alert citizens or emergency personnel by telephone of impending or in-progress emergency situations.

The County is currently using Reverse 911 to map out areas for notification. But with only 4 telephone lines at their disposal, instant mass notification was not possible. “Even with 100 telephone lines,” Blake continued to say, “the reverse 911 system didn’t offer the power that was standard with W.A.R.N.”

W.A.R.N. is able to contact 10,000 households simultaneously in less than 2 minutes. The system is able to contact all major telephone devices including home phone (analog or digital), cellular, pager, SMS, fax machines and Internet messaging or Email. Calls can be sent or received through any Internet connection, telephone, cellular or pager. Since W.A.R.N. is completely mobile, it can be launched from anywhere, including a home office or field location.

W.A.R.N. will be used for emergency management purposes including weather alerts, school closings, severe weather alerts, and emergency management personnel call-outs.

Akzo Nobel Chemical originally learned of the W.A.R.N. system from Software Computer Group, Inc., a Charleston Information Technology firm that is the representative of W.A.R.N. in West Virginia, and contacted Chuck Blake and other Mason County Local Emergency Planning Committee Members including AEP Environmental Support, AEP Mountaineer Plant, AEP Sporn Plant, M&G Polymers Mason County 911, Mason County Board of Education, Mason County Health Department, Pleasant Valley Hospital and West Virginia Dept. of Natural Resources.
 

“Akzo Nobel, AEP and M&G Polymers along with our other Committee members have made a commitment to the residents of Mason County to maintain the highest of standards in safety and security. We appreciate their good neighbor policies and couldn’t have achieved this major emergency planning improvement without their support.”

W.A.R.N. is funded by the Mason County Department of Health through a Homeland Security Grant.