Emergency alert system coming to Central Florida counties

Orange officials expect to move the OCAlert system to the free Everbridge platform by the end of October.

When disaster strikes, Lake County officials now will be able to reach residents swiftly and in numerous ways. In weather or lawenforcement emergencies, officials can fire off text, email or phone-call alerts at a moment’s notice.

A new mass-notification system is a vast improvement in technology from 2007, when tornadoes ripped through Lake and killed 21 people, Emergency Operations Manager Tommy Carpenter said.

“Technology has changed tremendously in the last nine years,” he said. At the time, the only weather alerts came through National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration radio broadcasts.

The upgraded system is available free to Florida counties as part of a $12 million contract the state signed with global software company Everbridge. Lake and 14 other counties are already using it; Orange and Seminole are among others planning to implement the system.

Orange officials expect to move the OCAlert system to the free Everbridge platform by the end of October, said Keith Kotch, emergency operations assistant manager. The county has paid $60,000 annually to renew its current service.

“It’s been a tremendous gain,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of counties who couldn’t otherwise afford the cost of a mass notifications able to do it now.”

More and more, agencies nationwide are turning to technology to reach residents in emergency situations. Everbridge expects Florida will have “the most comprehensive and coordinated statewide emergency notification program in the country.”

Carpenter said the Everbridge system will improve the chances of reaching Lake residents in emergincies.

Lake’s database is stocked with more than 105,000 phone numbers, pulled from phone books. Residents can log on to alertlake.com to add their preferred contact information.

The new system will create an information pipeline to residents when seconds matter most, Carpenter said.

“This shouldn’t be a primary tool, but it should be a tool residents use to get information,” he said. “It’s a premium system.”