You have one voice mail message: run! - Global News - emergency communicaitons

Telecommunications, May, 2002 by Ted McKenna

BOULDER, Colo.--The phone rings during supper. This time it's not another telemarketer promising a fast way to reduce credit card debt or refinance a mortgage. A recorded message from the town government warns of a nearby forest fire and orders evacuation along a certain route.

The technology that lets telemarketers leave annoying recorded messages on answering machines can also--when combined with geographical information--help save lives, warning people of approaching tornados, escaped prisoners and other dangers when traditional means of warning such as sirens, door-to-door canvassing and TV or radio broadcasts may fail to reach everyone or provide enough information.

One of the latest local governments to sign up for telephone notification services is Eagle County, Colo., which will use Boulder-based Intrado's IntelliCast service. To warn people of impending disaster, public safety officials simply record a phone message with specific instructions and use a computer map on a secure Web site to highlight within which geographic area the recorded messages should be disseminated.

"In an emergency situation, especially during fire season, Colorado public safety officials need tools to help them notify the public quickly, efficiently and economically," says Ten DePuy, general manager of Intrado's Direct Business unit. The company says its service was used to inform citizens in Boulder County of two forest fires in September 2000 and helped evacuate residents endangered by a forest fire in Loveland, Cob., in June 2000.

A competing message notification company called Community Alert Network says it can send out over 250 messages simultaneously and more than 15,000 an hour. Emergency officials in New Mexico recently used the Albany, N.Y.-based CAN to warn 22,000 people of approaching wildfires, while Rensselaer County in New York used the service during a snowstorm to notify parents of school closings.

The service costs an average of 25 cents per call, although it can cost more depending on the length of the message and whether it changes, according to CAN. The company says it has agreements covering 645 communities in 40 U.S. states and Canada, along with contracts with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and 17 nuclear power plants.