FAQs • Centre County, PA • CivicEngage

Is CodeRed the only means of notification?: No! Emergency Notification Systems are not 100% reliable. People do not always hear TV and radio messages, especially at night. Sirens have a limited range and give little information. Door-to-door or mobile loudspeaker notifications are time-consuming and inefficient. CodeRed cannot reach everyone and is only a part of the notification process. It gives emergency managers another tool to use to alert the public. Residents are still encouraged to listen to warnings issued through the TV and radio media and NOAA weather radios.

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CodeRed

1. What is an Emergency Notification System?: Emergency Notification Systems, or ENS, are systems to quickly provide mass notification of residents in the event of an emergency. In Centre County, we have chosen to use the Emergency Communication Network, Inc. CodeRed system as a means to notify residents by phone.

2. What should I do if I receive a CodeRed message?: If you receive a CodeRed message, listen carefully. The message will be brief and not repeated. Follow the instructions given. You may be directed to a commercial TV or radio station for further information. Do not hang up until you have heard the entire message. Do not call 9-1-1 for further information unless directed to do so. You will only tie up the emergency lines.

3. Can I replay the CodeRed message?: Yes! If you have Caller ID you can call back the number displayed on your Caller ID to hear the message again. CodeRed will also leave a message if you have an answering device or voice mail.

4. What does a CodeRed message sound like?: The message is normally recorded by a 9-1-1 staff person. It is a true recorded message and not computer generated. The message will always begin with a statement "This is an emergency message for [geographic area] from the Centre County 9-1-1 Emergency Notification System." The text of the message and further instructions would follow. The message will generally be brief and if further instructions are necessary, you may be directed to turn to a commercial radio or TV station.

5. What if I don't receive a CodeRed message?: Your geographic area of the community may not have been affected by the event in which case you won't receive a call even if you're only a block away. It's also possible that your phone number and address don't match or you are not in the system. Those can be resolved by logging into the CodeRed Community Notification Enrollment webpage and correcting your information.

6. Can CodeRed send emails or text messages?: Yes! CodeRed can send emails and text messages to your cell phone if you enroll in the CodeRed Community Notification Enrollment webpage. You will not automatically be included in those messages unless you list your email and cell phone numbers in the CodeRed Community Notification database.

7. How does CodeRed work?: CodeRed delivers the important message through a high speed telephone calling system to a phone number registered in the system. In the 9-1-1 Center, staff will select a "call area" and the phone numbers will be matched up electronically to the addresses. Busy numbers will be redialed a preset number of times. CodeRed also has the ability to store predefined lists of names and phone numbers that can be activated for a specific notification.

8. How does CodeRed determine what phone number to dial?: Emergency Communications Network, the developers of the CodeRed system, use a number of commercially available phone number databases. These databases do not, however, include all phone numbers. Unlisted numbers and numbers not included in the most recent database would not be called. Pennsylvania State legislation was recently passed to allow the use of the confidential 9-1-1 telephone number database for Emergency ENS calls. As soon as the rules and regulations governing that use are determined, Centre County will use 9-1-1 data for emergency notifications.

9. Does CodeRed dial cellular phones?: Cellular phone numbers do not exist in the phone books that CodeRed uses to dial phones in a geographic area. Cellular phones, and Voice over Internet Phones (VoIP), operate in a different environment and must be manually added by the owner. You need to be aware that if you do not have a standard wire line phone, you will not receive a warning, unless you register your phone number on the CodeRed Community Notification Enrollment webpage.

10. What are some of the uses for CodeRed?: The primary use of CodeRed is to notify county residents of an immediate emergency. It can be used to define an area for evacuation or "shelter in place" notifications for incidents such as a hazardous material spill or major gas leak. It can also be used to direct residents to a specific TV or radio station for further important details and instructions. It may alert residents to shelters activated in municipalities during weather or power emergencies. It may be used to alert residents of wildfires approaching their area. CodeRed can also be used to alert a neighborhood to watch for a lost child, an impaired individual who has walked away, or a dangerous individual that may be in the area. The 9-1-1 center can create lists of emergency responders and use CodeRed as a backup to the normal emergency notification process.

11. Who pays for CodeRed?: The Centre County Commissioners decided the easiest means of managing the cost for CodeRed notifications would be for a single agency to be responsible. The Commissioners decided that the County would be the contracting agency and that the County would assume the cost for emergency notifications. Any authorized agency is welcome to use CodeRed for non-emergency notifications and would reimburse the County for the cost of the activation.

12. Is CodeRed the only means of notification?: No! Emergency Notification Systems are not 100% reliable. People do not always hear TV and radio messages, especially at night. Sirens have a limited range and give little information. Door-to-door or mobile loudspeaker notifications are time-consuming and inefficient. CodeRed cannot reach everyone and is only a part of the notification process. It gives emergency managers another tool to use to alert the public. Residents are still encouraged to listen to warnings issued through the TV and radio media and NOAA weather radios.

13. Is CodeRed appropriate for all emergency notifications?: No. CodeRed is only one of the many tools and has its limitations. It does take some time to set up a CodeRed notification and make the calls. Threats in progress, such as a tornado that was just spotted, would not give emergency managers enough time to make a CodeRed notification. Emergencies that occur in a very brief time frame are not good candidates for a CodeRed type of notification. Other options may be more appropriate.