East Bridgewater Residents Encouraged to Sign Up for Town’s New CodeRED Emergency Alert Program

To sign up to receive alerts click here

EAST BRIDGEWATER — Police Chief Scott Allen, Fire Chief Timothy Harhen and Director of Public Works John Haines are encouraging all East Bridgewater residents to sign up for the town’s new emergency alert program.

The East Bridgewater Police Department, in collaboration with the Fire Department, and Department of Public Works recently acquired Onsolve’s CodeRED Emergency Notification System for the town.

The CodeRED system provides a centralized method to keep residents and those who work in East Bridgewater better informed before, during and after a storm, of power outages and during other major events or emergencies.

Many residents currently receive emergency alerts through the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department notification system on a countywide basis. Now, the Town of East Bridgewater can manage its own emergency communications in a more efficient and timely manner, as well as share local town-related information directly with its residents and businesses.

East Bridgewater will now have the ability to register all of its residents within its own CodeRED system, via landlines, cellular phones and email addresses, so that they can receive alerts and emergency messages through multiple devices and means of communication.

“Those who are signed up through the sheriff’s department also need to sign up for the town’s new service,” Police Chief Allen said. “That way residents are getting alerts directly from the town in addition to the county-wide notifications.”

The need for East Bridgewater’s own alert system became evident during the two significant winter storms in March last year, which led to major power outages, road closures and the need to open the town’s warming center. Residents were limited to receiving information by only one method or device, however, some only had internet through their smart phones, while others had no landline or cellular phone service.

In post-storm debriefings between the police department, fire department, DPW and town officials, one area where all agreed that improvement could be made was having control of its own notification system to keep residents updated and informed.

“As East Bridgewater’s Director of Emergency Management, I am pleased to see our town get an emergency notification system of its own,” Fire Chief Harhen said. “This will make it much easier to spread the word when we have severe weather and other emergency situations.”

The necessity for having residents registered with primary and alternative phone numbers and an email address is critical for receiving notifications, especially during power outages.

Within the CodeRED system, public safety officials will be able to send emergency messages that will automatically post on their respective websites and social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), in addition to being sent directly to residents via their phones or email.

“Once you have signed up for the alert system, you can always check our websites and social media accounts for further notifications and updates,” DPW Director Haines said. “The goal is to keep everyone safe and up to date with information when emergencies arise.”

All East Bridgewater residents are encouraged to sign onto the East Bridgewater CodeRED system by clicking HERE and complete the full registration (add primary and secondary phone numbers and email address). At the end of the registration process, CodeRED allows each user to have a test message sent to each of the phone numbers registered. Those who sign up should complete the test call at the end of the process to ensure they are receiving messages.

Residents should not assume that their contact information is already in the system.

Over the coming weeks and months, town officials will be working with the Council On Aging to help older residents sign up for the new program.

Frequently asked questions about CodeRED can be found HERE.

CodeRED also has a mobile alert app that can be downloaded easily to iPhone and Android smart phones by clicking HERE.

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