Las Animas County residents urged to sign up for emergency alerts

Some Las Animas County residents may think they are already covered by the county emergency alert system, but Trinidad officials say that assumption could leave people out when fires, floods, road closures or utility outages hit. The Trinidad Communications Center has moved to RAVE/Smart911 for countywide alerts, and while staff tried to transfer existing numbers from CodeRED, some phone numbers may not have carried over.

That gap matters in a county where wildfire danger, weather disruptions and sudden road closures can cut off travel with little warning. The alert system is meant for all of Las Animas County and is used for fires, floods, police emergencies, water main breaks and utility outages, along with notices about severe weather, unexpected road closures, missing persons and evacuations of buildings or neighborhoods.

The Communications Center says residents can receive alerts by phone call, email or text message and can choose where and how they want to be contacted. Smart911 says the safety profile is free, private and secure, and that verified profile information is only shown to participating 911 centers when a caller uses a confirmed phone number. The profile can also follow a person if they call 911 in another Smart911-participating area.

For Trinidad and Las Animas County, the system sits at the center of daily public safety work. The Communications Center answers all 911 and non-emergency calls in the county, is staffed by 7 dispatchers and 1 communications manager, and dispatches more than 22,000 calls for service to 16 different agencies. Officials say that makes the alert network a practical tool, not just an extra layer of messaging.

Residents who need help signing up or navigating the system can stop by the Trinidad Carnegie Public Library, which says the information supplied to Rave Alert/Smart911 is not shared, sold or made available to outside individuals or entities, and that the service is free. People can also register by scanning the QR code provided by the city, filling out the paper form or enrolling online through Smart911.

The rollout leaves a clear test for county officials: whether the new system reaches the households most likely to be missed, including rural residents, seniors, Spanish speakers and people without reliable cell service. In a county where a fire, a mud-slick road or a water main break can change conditions fast, an alert system only works if residents are actually enrolled when the warning comes.