Colorado city's new opt-in emergency alert service warns residents about disaster events

It was a fire that blazed a little too close for comfort for residents in Thornton last month.

"It got within about 50-100 feet to the back of our school," said CEO Chris Miller of Pinnacle Charter School.

"(I was) scared at first but (you) got to keep calm in these situations," resident Makayla Richard said.

Yet the fire was not far enough from causing damage to a car business.

"This long side, back of the fence, the fire started coming through right here," said Jason Rol, owner of Rol Race Motorsports.

Door knocking, social media and broader communications channels, like FEMA's Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) are what Thornton officials used to warn the public about the fire along the greenbelt less than two weeks ago. Now, the city is unveiling a new emergency alert system, Thornton Ready, to help warn the public sooner about situations like this fire and other major events in their community.

"If you want to learn about the emergencies and potential disasters that could occur in your area, if you want to be prepared for an emergency that may occur outside your door, this is the notification system where you will learn of that," said Ryan Doyle, emergency manager for the city of Thornton.

This new, opt-in emergency system was already in the works months prior to the fire, as a replacement for the CodeRed system, which many municipalities across the state stopped using after last year's cybersecurity breach.

"It provides text, email and [a] phone call to residents who sign up," Doyle said.

The platform is also integrated with Smart 911 technology, where residents can create a profile for their household that includes critical information such as medication use and health issues for when dispatchers are called.

"In this new process, we did vet it very well. It did meet federal cybersecurity standards," Doyle said. "One of the highest, as well as it went through an internal cyber security audit."

Even with higher security standards, getting people to opt in to emergency alert services have been a nationwide challenge.

"I believe we had roughly 10% of the population signed up for the notification system CodeRed, and that was after years of outreach, going to neighborhood events, (and) having table sign ups," Doyle explained.

Doyle believes signing up can help more residents better prepare when disaster strikes.

"As we go further into severe weather season and looking at the drought scenario that we're dealing with, with the fire danger and the winds this coming summer, we're just glad that we have this system now readily available to use," Doyle said.

Thornton leaders will continue to promote the use of Thornton Ready at events throughout the year. People who are interested in signing up, can do so on their website, goCOT.net/thorntonready.