Answer the phone!

Soon Southwestern Franklin County Fire Territory households will be notified of potential catastrophes by telephone.

“We have purchased an emergency telephone notification system” from One Command, Cincinnati, reports Bob Bernens, Eagle Fire Co., Oldenburg, safety officer.

While the system would mostly be used to alert citizens about tornado warnings, it could also warn of a hazardous materials spill or “any type of emergency where we need to notify the residents either to take shelter or to evacuate,” he explains.

Once residents know there’s a danger, “all we ask them to do is to tune into their local radio station for direction. It’s a way of letting them know that something is happening.”

The new system will be tested on two consecutive Thursdays, Sept. 18 from 5 to 5:45 p.m. and Sept. 25 from 5 to 5:30 p.m. The test will determine how long it takes to notify the 1,325 households, Bernens notes.

The system will give him lots of details. It “tells me if they got it, if they listened to it, if they hung up on it, whether the phone was answered by a machine or a live person.

“Of the 1,325 records, I’ll know how many phone calls actually went out and were actually received.”

Bernens has access to land line records, but no cell phone numbers. If desired, “we can add their cell phone numbers to the system.” Persons who want to be notified by cell phone may call Elaina Peters at 933-0656.

Familiar voices will be heard during the calls. In addition to Bernens, three other department volunteers have access to the system: board Chairman Nick Biltz, Chief Gary Swain and Lt. John Livers. It is handy to manage, the safety officer says. “I can do this from wherever I have my laptop connection or cell phone or telephone.”

“We’ve been working ... for a number of years” on how to keep the public apprised of possible disasters. Firefighters applied for a Franklin County Community Foundation grant to install sirens, but “we just couldn’t come up with the money to do it so we tried to look for a better or cheaper way.”

Until now, during severe weather volunteers have driven trucks throughout the territory and sounded their sirens, hoping residents would hear. The phone method “will be much better,” Bernens believes.

The system will cost Eagle Fire Co. about $4,000 annually – $2 per telephone number to One Command and $1,400 to Verizon for the phone number database, which includes weekly updates.

According to him, “It was actually way cheaper than putting up the sirens.”

Debbie Blank can be contacted at 812-934-4343, Ext. 113; or debbie.blank@ batesvilleheraldtribune.com.