AlertTC is Tulare County's public mass notification system, designed to keep those who live or work in Tulare County informed of important information during emergency events. The system is administered by the County of Tulare and is operated in partnership with many Tulare County cities.
Public mass notification systems have become a critical component of emergency preparation and response.
Residents are notified of emergencies by providing locations (e.g. addresses or coordinates) associated with their landline telephone numbers, cell phones numbers, and e-mail addresses.
Public safety officials respond by using the system to rapidly send out messages when there is a perceived, upcoming or imminent situation that may require community action.
Based on the severity of an emergency, AlertTC may be used to contact residents by one or all of the following methods: home phone, work phone, cell phone, e-mail, text message, or fax. Mass notification systems have been attributed with saving lives during the 2007 Southern California wildfires by quickly notifying residents of evacuation instructions at all hours.
The legal authority (County or City) responsible for announcing emergency notifications depends on the nature and scale of the incident. With the AlertTC partnership between the County and Cities, residents and businesses only need to provide their contact information once to receive emergency messages from either the County or City in which they live or work.
AlertTC has significant capacity to send large volumes of messages through phone, e-mail and text communication channels.
When there is an emergency event requiring community action, authorized officials record a voice, e-mail or text message that is then delivered quickly to individuals affected by the event.
Example: a wildfire event triggers an evacuation notice.
Officials will use the system to keep affected communities informed of event information as necessary.
Example: evacuation call-off notice.
Since there are many instances when the public may not be at home to receive an emergency message, public safety officials feel it is critical that all residents and businesses provide additional contact channels by registering voluntary cell phone numbers, e-mail addresses and text numbers through the AlertTC self-subscription web portal.
See the frequently asked questions to read how contact information provided to this system is protected.