Marin to conduct emergency alert test on March 23

Tens of thousands of people who live or work in Marin County are scheduled to receive a test emergency alert on March 23.

The alerts will be transmitted at 10 a.m. by text message, phone call or email.

“We want to see how fast those alerts go out in the event that we do need to do a countywide notification,” said Steven Torrance, the county's emergency management director.

His staff operates AlertMarin, a countywide notification system that alerts subscribers if there is a major emergency requiring evacuations or other actions.

Torrance said AlertMarin was used to tell subscribers to prepare for extended power outages during the severe storm on Feb. 4 that knocked out electricity for tens of thousands of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers in Marin County.

“We didn't want people's cellphones to die, and so we sent out that message as fast as we could,” he said. “Regardless if someone was home, they got it on their cellphone or they got it in their email if they weren't in that area.”

AlertMarin focuses on large-scale emergencies, differing from the Nixle system that fire and police agencies use to warn local communities about low-impact events, Torrance said.

The test on March 23 will only be sent to users who registered for the AlertMarin service on AlertMarin.org. More than 60,000 people are registered, and Torrance said that his staff hopes to increase that number by 10%. The county's emergency management division plans to promote registration in cities before the test.

The staff will also run a call center to answer questions from the public about AlertMarin on the morning of the test day.

Torrance said that the test will be the first for AlertMarin following a recent upgrade.

Marin County Supervisor Dennis Rodoni, who also serves on the county's Disaster and Citizens Corps Council, urges people to register for AlertMarin.

“Testing the system allows us to verify the performance and improve as needed,” he said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency conducted a similar test of its public alert system in Marin County last October.

The Marin County Office of Emergency Management is overseen by the Marin County Fire Department.