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Alert & Warning
Success in saving lives and property is dependent upon clear and timely dissemination of emergency information to persons in threatened areas. Pierce County Emergency Management has various systems in place to ensure that residents are notified in the event of a small or major emergency.
These systems include:
Receive alerts on different devices such as your cell phone, home phone, email, and TTY. Choose up to five locations you want to be notified about such as your residence, workplace, children’s school and more.
PC ALERT - Translated
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The Outdoor Warning System is part of an overall emergency communications system for Pierce County. The focus for the sirens is to warn the residents in the Puyallup River Valley, Orting and Nisqually Valley of imminent dangers including flooding, wildfires, lahars and eruptions from Mount Rainier.
The system was originally created to notify people of imminent volcanic dangers. People would be advised to evacuate the valley floor and head to higher ground by vehicle or foot. The Outdoor Warning System was expanded in 2020 to include other emergencies. The system is tested at noon on the first Monday of every month. The system plays a Westminster chime during the tests and a verbal message about the test. During an emergency, the system uses a siren sound to alert residents who are outside. The verbal message - in English and Spanish - will direct people to check local media and Pierce County's social media for updates. Blue flashing lights are also on the towers to attract attention during an emergency.
WEAs will relay presidential, AMBER and imminent threat alerts to mobile phones using cellular broadcast technology that will not get backlogged during times of emergency when wireless voice and data services are highly congested.
IPAWS improves alert and warning capabilities by allowing alerting authorities to deliver their message from a single portal to multiple communication pathways. Two of these pathways are The Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS).
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253-798-6595