Reverse 911 will alert residents

Friday, March 15, 2002 | 10:53 a.m.

A new telephone alert system designed to notify Clark County residents of emergencies is expected to go online within the next three months.

The system, known as reverse 911, allows emergency dispatchers to simultaneously call all residents in a neighborhood to warn them of natural disasters, terrorist attacks or police incidents, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

"The city (of Las Vegas) got the money for the system through a $60,000 Project Impact Grant awarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency," Szymanski said.

The system uses a database of phone numbers to send out a prerecorded message informing residents in an emergency in case of a flood, bomb threat, power outage or other emergency, City of Las Vegas Emergency Manager Tim McAndrew said.

"In essence, it's a large telemarketing device with an auto-dialer," McAndrew said. "It's another tool we can use to get the word out along with the traditional scroll on television, or radio announcements.

The system can be set to recall numbers, but it will only be effective if people answer their phones.

The system's radius will include all of Clark County, and it can call both listed and unlisted numbers, Sprint spokeswoman Detra Page said.

"Sprint will automatically update the database with any new numbers or changes," Page said.