The City of Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge Fire Department (ORFD), and Oak Ridge Police Department (ORPD) are launching a new notification system for the City to be able to better communicate with residents and businesses during emergencies and other critical events.
Everbridge will replace the Oak Ridge Fire Department’s CodeRED emergency alert system and Oak Ridge Police Department’s Nixle traffic alerts. If you were previously subscribed to either notification system, you are encouraged to sign up for Everbridge Alerts so you can edit your preferences on the types of alerts you wish to receive.
The City will use Everbridge to alert residents who have registered about a variety of events including severe weather, road closures, traffic incidents, or major power outages.
“In a matter of seconds thousands of Oak Ridge residents and businesses will be able to know about emergencies and incidents as they happen," said Oak Ridge Police Chief Robin Smith.
Messages will be sent to registered users on their preferred contact paths — cell phone, SMS, home phone or email, push notification via the Everbridge app — to ensure real-time access to potentially lifesaving information.
“Combining the two programs, ORFD’s CodeRED and ORPD’s Nixle, makes it easier for people to know they’re going to get notified when something happens and they won’t miss important information by only being subscribed to one of the systems and not both,” Oak Ridge Sr. Communications Specialist Lauren Gray said. “This provides people with one place to get all of their alerts.”
In order to receive Everbridge emergency alerts from the City of Oak Ridge, residents and businesses must register at www.oakridgetn.gov/notifications. Registering contact information takes minutes and is the only way to ensure contact in an emergency. When you register, you will be prompted to customize your weather alerts, but you will automatically be signed up for traffic and emergency alerts once you subscribe.
While customizing your weather alerts, you can also opt to set quiet times so you won’t be alerted in multiple ways unless it’s a severe emergency.
“The Oak Ridge Fire Department will send critical messages through the system and, just like our previous service, automatic National Weather Service (NWS) severe weather notifications will also be distributed,” said Oak Ridge Fire Chief Travis Solomon. “If you were getting notifications before from our previous service, you should have received the direct link to subscribe to the new Everbridge alerts.”
All registrants of the city's CodeRED system and Nixle program received a notification with Everbridge registration instructions. For questions or more information, visit www.oakridgetn.gov/notifications.
