Report notes concerns with wildfire alert system
Report notes concerns with wildfire alert system
27 February 2013
published by www.9news.com
USA — COLORADO SPRINGS – A new report is noting “serious concerns” with two mass calling systems that were used to send evacuation notices to thousands of residents during the Waldo Canyon Fire last year.
Former Colorado Public Utilities Commission chief engineer Gary Klug wrote the report for the El Paso-Teller Counties E911 Authority. It was released Wednesday.
Klug says one system called MassCall needs to be tested, fine-tuned and modified based on calling capacities of technology in the area. He says the other system, known as the Communicator! NXT Server, is constrained by the number of circuits connecting it to the telephone network.
Klug also found that a couple who died in the fire was served by an unnamed telecommunications provider that hadn’t provided the couple’s number for a 911 database or emergency notifications.
