Code Red Calls Warn of Cold

Many Jasperites got a phone call Monday warning them of the severe cold expected early Tuesday morning.

The warning, put out by the local 911 system went to 3,500 phones, as well as some e-mails. The phone calls were to those numbers in the 911 database, and cell phones that residents have registered with the county.

Melissa Slocumb, who serves as Jasper County’s 911 Director as well as Director of the Jasper County Emergency Management Agency said it is the first time the system has been used for a general alert in some time. She said this call out went to the entire county, but that the system has the ability to localize the calls to areas of the county in the event of something affecting just a portion of the county.

To register your cell phone or other number that would not be in the local database, residents can go to the Jasper County website, www,jaspercountyga.org, and click on the Code Red link as shown above.

From there, users are prompted to put in telephone numbers, physical address of property where alerts should be sent and e-mail addresses. In addition, the system asks if you would like to receive texts.

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The caller I.D. at The News office showed CODERED ALERT when the call came in, as did all caller I.D.s presumably. Mrs. Slocumb said she saved the number in her cell phone so that it would come in as emergency call in the future, and recommended that for others who received the call on their cell phones.

The severe cold temperatures Tuesday posed a health risk for anyone who was outside for any length of time, and people were encouraged to bring their pets in as well.

The system has been used previously to warn people in the path of severe thunderstorms, and could be used for a hazardous spill, a missing person, or many other uses, said Mrs. Slocumb. She is trying to fine tune the system so everyone who wants to receive the alerts will.