Girl Scouts Urge You to Sign Up for the Albany Co. Alert System

LARAMIE -- Three Girl Scouts are working on their Silver Award by collaborating with Aimee Binning, Emergency Management Agency coordinator for Albany County Homeland Security, by encouraging County residents to sign up for the Albany County Emergency Alert System.

Destiny Gabbidon, Mairin Sims, and Claire Bunning, representing Laramie Girl Scout Troop 1170, are conducting this community service project.

The Silver Award is the second-highest award a Girl Scout can earn, and the highest award for a Cadet Girl Scout for girls in grades 6 through 8.

The Girl Scouts want you to receive the alerts about emergencies and other important community news by signing up for the Emergency Alert Program. This system enables the City and County to provide you with critical information quickly in a variety of situations, such as severe weather, unexpected road closures, missing persons and evacuations of buildings or neighborhoods.

“I wasn’t very knowledgeable about the alert system, because I thought it was just normal. Then Mairin came to me and said when the tornado happened last summer, many people didn’t know that there was a tornado until they looked out their windows,” said Destiny.

“And so she did her research and learned that the alert company switched a few years back, and everybody got switched with it. I realized that I wasn’t getting any alerts for emergencies or anything, so she thought it would be a good idea to take our time to tell people about it.”

The City of Laramie contracted with Everbridge, Inc. of Burlington, MA, for its high-speed telephone emergency notification services on July 28 of 2017.

When the city converted to the Everbridge, re-enrollment was required, even if you had previously enrolled in the old “code red” system that the city used for 9 years.

Mairin said you can receive alerts by hard-line phone, cell phone, text message, or email.

“To sign up, you go to www.albanycountywidealert.org.”

“So if there was a severe thunderstorm alert, you would get a text and an email; or if you hook it up to your house phone, the phone at home would get the call,” Destiny said.

The program is free.

“If you don’t have a phone, then you can get a weather alert radio. They are battery-powered, so if the power goes out, then they’ll still work,” Mairin said.

“They cost from $20 to $60 and can be found online or at stores. And even if you do have a phone, it’s a good idea to get one of these radios for extra protection.”

A wide variety of Battery-powered weather alert radios are available at most stores that sell electronics, or go online and check the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – NOAA - website.

Destiny said the girls will be at events throughout Laramie to promote the registration effort.

“If you want to see us for more information about signing up to the emergency alert system, we will be at the Albany County Fair, and at farmers markets with the other girl that’s helping with it, Claire Bunning.

Remember: To ensure that your information is in the database, you need to re-enroll at albanycountywidealert.org. By enrolling in the Albany Countywide Alerts, you will be providing multiple methods of contact if the need arises. This is particularly important if you have a cell phone, high-speed internet phone, or Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) phone. Providing an email address allows us to contact you via that medium.

If you have questions, please contact PSAP Administrator Steve Morgan at (307) 721-5376.