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RoCo Alert

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1. What is RoCo Alert?

RoCo Alert is a system used by Roanoke County public safety officials to deliver emergency notifications to residents and businesses impacted by, or in danger of being impacted by, an emergency or disaster.

The RoCo Alert service is provided by Twenty First Century Communications, Inc. under contract to Roanoke County, Virginia. Officials within the Roanoke County Emergency Communications Center can activate RoCo Alert when needed for wide area disasters such as wildfires or storm damage and also for very local alerts for flooding or neighborhood emergencies.

2. How do I add my cell phone, VoIP phone, and email address to RoCo Alert?

You may register your cellular number, VoIP telephone and email address online. Your data will not be shared or used for any purpose other than to receive public safety notifications from Roanoke County public safety officials. It is important to note that your email address will serve as a unique record “ID”, and can only be associated with one physical address in the system.

3. Why do I need to register my phone number in RoCo Alert?

If you do not have a landline phone and use a cell phone or VoIP phone, (such as Vonage or COX), you will need to register your non-landline phone number with RoCo Alert to receive notifications on those devices.

4. I have a landline phone, so should I register my cell phone, Voice over IP and email address in RoCo Alert?

There may be times when you are not home to receive an emergency message. Public safety officials recommend that all residents with a cell phone add their number to the RoCo Alert database associated with your home address.

Alternately, you may wish to register your cell phone number to receive notifications at another address, such as your place of business, the address of an elderly parent or grandparent, or the location of your child’s school or caregiver.

5. If I have provided more than one phone number, which number will be used by RoCo Alert?

If an emergency situation arises that requires a notification to be sent, public safety officials will activate the system to place simultaneous calls to all numbers associated with every address in the affected geographic area.

6. Will the RoCo Alert system call numbers outside of the local area code?

Yes. The area code does not impact whether or not a call is made.

7. What precautions are taken to protect personal contact information stored in the RoCo Alert system?

RoCo Alert is a service powered by Twenty First Century Communications, Inc. (TFCC). The County of Roanoke and TFCC take your privacy and security very seriously. RoCo Alert contact information will never be shared, sold, traded, leased or loaned to outside parties. The sign up page is hosted on a secure server with Twenty First Century Communications.

8. Do I need an e-mail address to register?

Yes. An e-mail address is required as a username. If you do not have an e-mail address, you may go to http://www.gmail.com, http://www.yahoo.com or http://www.hotmail.com to sign-up for a free e-mail account.

9. Is there any charge for registering with RoCo Alert or receiving notifications?

There is never a charge imposed by Roanoke County for signing up or for receiving these messages. However, your cell phone service provider’s plan for airtime minutes, email or text message rates will apply.

10. How does RoCo Alert work?

RoCo Alert uses the 9-1-1 Verizon telephone database to call and deliver a recorded message to all landline phone numbers in a specific geographic area within Roanoke County that may be affected by an emergency or disaster. In addition, residents can register VoIP telephones, cell phones, and an email address with an address location.

Authorized public safety officials create an emergency area based on the location of an event and record a voice, email and/or text message notification. RoCo Alert sends the notification to phone numbers and email addresses assigned to locations within the emergency area.

11. What type of messages will be sent by RoCo Alert?

RoCo Alert will be used to send messages pertaining to the health, safety or welfare of a community being affected by a potential, emerging, or imminent emergency event. Public health and safety related messages may also be sent during or after an emergency to keep you informed of important information.

RoCo Alert uses geomapping technology to create emergency areas, and then calls all the telephone numbers assigned to addresses within those areas. Messages may be based on broad areas or very specific areas, depending on the need for notifications.

12. Will I receive “junk mail” messages?

No. RoCo Alert will only send you messages when the address your phone number and/or email are associated with is in the geographic area targeted to receive a public safety message.

13. How does the RoCo Alert respond to busy signals or no answer situations?

For busy signals, call waiting, or when there is no answer, the call will usually be repeated two or three times in an attempt to reach you. If the phone is answered by a message recorder, the message will be left on the answering device. If the call does not successfully go through after a designated number of attempts, the system will stop attempting to call.

14. How do I unsubscribe from RoCo Alert?

You can edit your street address, cell phone number, email address, or unsubscribe by logging into RoCo Alert and selecting the option you wish to change.