Lane County to test Lane Alerts emergency notification system Thursday

A fast-moving wildfire, flood or evacuation order can leave Lane County residents little time to react, and county officials will test the alert system designed to reach them at noon Thursday. The county said Lane Alerts subscribers will receive the test by email, recorded voice call or text message, depending on the contact information they provided.

Lane County Emergency Management said the annual test is meant to confirm that the system works and that people who sign up will actually get urgent life-safety information when it matters. Monica Larcom, Lane County’s emergency manager, said the annual test is important to make sure the community is ready and able to receive critical alerts in an emergency.

Lane Alerts is one of the main tools local responders use to warn residents about severe weather, fire, flooding, hazardous materials, immediate evacuation, civil danger, local area emergencies and missing persons. Those are the kinds of incidents that can force a quick exit from rural neighborhoods, the wildland-urban interface and other parts of the county where Lane County says wildfire is one of the most common and destructive hazards.

County emergency guidance puts the message plainly: do not delay leaving once told to evacuate, because the last notice may be the final warning you receive. That warning carries extra weight heading deeper into fire season and during National Wildfire Awareness Month, when the county is trying to keep preparedness in front of residents before summer conditions worsen.

Residents who are not signed up can create a free account, choose where alerts are sent and add multiple addresses so they can track notifications for home, work or a child’s school. The State of Oregon’s OR-Alert system says a single profile can register up to five addresses per contact profile, giving subscribers a way to cover more than one location without setting up separate accounts.

Lane County is also telling current users that Lane Alerts is shifting into Everbridge Community. Everbridge says the Community portal uses authentication codes instead of passwords, and people who have not logged in recently may need to update their information the next time they access the service. For Lane County, the test is a small but direct check on a system that can decide whether a warning reaches someone in time to leave safely.