Adam RasmussenChannel 2 News
10,000 Washoe County residents were evacuated from their homes when the Washoe Drive Fire broke out.
Some of those evacuations were mandatory, others were voluntary. But for many residents near the fire, finding out that information proved to be a challenge.
That's because many weren't home to get the automated emergency call or their power may have been out. That's also why some residents are turning to an alternative source for information.
"I have some friends up here that all they have is cellphones and they couldn't get reverse 911," says Reno resident, Dave Kladney. "So they were calling me."
Local law enforcement went door-to-door during the Washoe Drive Fire, letting people know the flames were creeping closer to homes but authorities were struggling to keep up with getting to everyone quickly.
Kladney lives in Galena Forest and says many people were unsure if they needed to evacuate and when mother nature sweeps through the area with fires, he says homeowners don't have much time to spare.
"If you're going to town or something like that, you're going to want to get home to get what you can get, before any catastrophe happens," Kladney says. That's why he signed up for AlertID.
AlertID was created right here in Reno. It sends information instantly to your cellphone along with emails with updates about fires, earthquakes and local crime activity. Especially useful during the Washoe Drive Fire, it sent evacuation notices to thousands of people.
"Feel very fortunate to have been able to reach 24% of the people that were evacuated in the fire," says AlertID founder Keli Wilson.
Wilson says the automated call system is useful, but a bit outdated. We're now in an era where the cellphone is attached to our hip, and land lines are being taken out of homes.
Wilson says with AlertID, you don't have to wait for that automated emergency call to know the latest. "We work closely with Washoe County Sheriff's Office throughout the course of the day to be able to get instant information to people," she says. During an emergency situations like the Washoe Drive Fire, Wilson says getting that information instantly is critical.
"If a fire is coming so fast and the winds are 70 miles per hour, you need to be able to get your stuff and get it quick."
AlertID has 50,000 members now and Wilson says they plan on taking it nationwide by the end of the year.
To learn more about AlertID or to sign up, click here http://alertid.com/
