San Diego real estate blog - Peter Toner

How to Register So You Will be Notified In Case of an Emergency.

Last week many homeowners were awaken in the wee hours of the morning by a recording sent by the county urging them to evacuate due to the fires. This system, capable of sending 74,000 messages an hour was set up after the last firestorm in 2003. It works by calling every landline phone and playing an automated recording - the recording will be dependent on the circumstances of the emergency, but it will advise the resident of what actions they must take. The system is quite flexible, if it detects a busy phone line it will redial and attempt to reach the resident. When the line rings to an answering machine, the system will then leave the message on the machine.

It proved its value this past week here in San Diego - the only catch is that it is programmed to only call landlines unless you have registered your cellular phone with San Diego County!

In a day and age where many no longer have a landline and strictly use cellular services, one could be in harms way without registering their phone number with Reverse 911. Its quick and easy ~ use the following link to the San Diego County website to register - you will be able to register your cell phone number and street address with the county so that should there be another emergent situation that could affect your home, you will not be left in the dark.

Even if you have a landline at home, it might be worth registering your cell number anyway so that you can be alerted even if not at home.

Written by Shawn McDonald