Lehigh County to Test Reverse 911 Tomorrow

When John Conklin was Director of Administration in Northampton county, he started a Reverse 911. Now Lehigh County Emergency Services is providing following suit with its own community notification system, intended to alert residents and businesses about emergencies that may impact their safety. Residents and businesses who already have landline telephone connections through such providers as Verizon, Frontier, and Ironton, are automatically included in this free notification system. Those with other services and devices as mentioned below are encouraged to sign-up for notification.

In the event of an emergency, Lehigh County Emergency Services may contact residents and businesses via the “Reverse 911” system to keep them informed about emergencies or other situations that may that may impact their safety or warrant community notification. The system will dial each telephone number registered within the affected area and will provide a recorded message with any pertinent information.

County Emergency Management personnel plan to send a test message tomorrow, and they advise those who receive the message to be aware that it is only a test.

“We have two goals in mind in announcing this service,” said County Executive Bill Hansell. “First, we urge everyone who lives or works in Lehigh County to sign up for these free notifications, and secondly, don’t hang up. We need users of the service to recognize a reverse 911 alert from Lehigh County Emergency Services and stay on the line to hear the message.”

Reverse 911 calls will be appear on caller IDs as “911Alert” and/or the phone number (610) 782-4600.

Residents or businesses who have landline telephone service provided by VoIP carriers such as Vonage, Magic Jack, and other companies need to register their home telephone number in order to receive alerts from this system. Cell phones and other wireless numbers also need to be registered by the phone’s owner. Notifications sent to cell phones will be based upon the address entered when registering.

“The Reverse 911 system was provided to Lehigh County through the North Eastern Pennsylvania Emergency Response Group,” said Lehigh County Director of General Services, Glenn Solt. “There was no cost to the County for the purchase of the system.”