{"id":14,"date":"2018-05-18T15:57:50","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T15:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cococaer.wordpress.com\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2026-02-20T19:41:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:41:06","slug":"prepare-for-emergencies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.crhmro.org\/CAER\/prepare-for-emergencies\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Warning System"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"14\" class=\"elementor elementor-14\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-69a2ca9e elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"69a2ca9e\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-f9f0fba\" data-id=\"f9f0fba\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-316e1a4a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"316e1a4a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Contra Costa County&#8217;s Community Warning System (CWS) helps you, your family and your community learn how to best prepare for and handle emergencies.<\/p><div class=\"focus_box\"><ul class=\"pagelinks\"><li style=\"list-style-type: none;\"><ul class=\"pagelinks\"><li><a href=\"#overview-of-the-system\">Overview of the Community<\/a><br \/><a href=\"#overview-of-the-system\">Warning System<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#how-does-it-work\">How Does it Work?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#why-provide-the-cws\">Why Provide the CWS?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#guiding-principles\">Guiding Principles<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/div><h2 id=\"overview-of-the-system\">Overview of the System<\/h2><p>The Community Warning System (CWS) Contra Costa County&#8217;s official all-hazard emergency alert system. It is designed to notify you when a potentially life- or health-threatening hazard requires immediate protective action. CWS delivers alerts through multiple channels, includin phone calls, text messages, email, social media, and the sounding of outdoor sirens during industrial facility emergencies.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h4><strong>Voice, Text, and Email Aler Messages<\/strong><\/h4><p>The CWS can send compatible wireless devices voice, text, and email alerts in an emergency. Unlike with a WEA or EAS alert, you will need to <a href=\"https:\/\/cwsalerts.com\/registration\/\">register<\/a> with the CWS to receive these additional messages.\u00a0<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h4><strong>Sirens<\/strong><\/h4><p>The CWS may use sirens to alert you to a possible industrial hazard in your area. Sirens are sounded to draw your attention away from your daily activities. When you hear a siren, the best first protective action is to Shelter, Shut and Listen. Sirens are tested on the first Wednesday of every month at 11:00 am. For the remaining Wednesdays, a more quiet and low-volume &#8220;growl&#8221; test is performed at 11:00am.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h4>Emergency Alert Systems (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)<\/h4><p>The CWS is designed to provide specific information directly to the media through the Emergency Alert System. The EAS interrupts TV and radio broadcasts to deliver major local , regional, and national emergency alerts. Following the inititial alert, TV and Radio stations provide ongoing status report and information. The CWS uses a federal system that sends texts alerts to your smartphone during major emergencies, no registration needed! Check with your cell phone service provider to see if your cell phone can receive Wireless Emergency Alerts.\u00a0<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h4>NOAA Weather Radio<\/h4><p>CWS uses the National Weather Serviceto provide emergency alerts and information for major non-weather related emergencies. Weather radios are an inexpensive and reliable way to receive these alerts. These devices can be battery powered to provide a means of receiving emergency alerts if your power is out. Learn more about NOAA Weather Radios <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crhmro.org\/CAER\/prepare-for-emergencies\/programming-your-weather-radio\/\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h2 id=\"how-does-it-work\"><a id=\"how\" name=\"how\"><\/a>How Does it Work?<\/h2><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cococaer.org\/images_new\/photo_siren.jpg\" alt=\"siren\" width=\"135\" height=\"265\" align=\"right\" \/>Sirens have been placed in the industrial corridor of the county. They are intended to be used for chemical accidents and used to notify the community to Shelter, Shut &amp; Listen.<\/p><p>Pagers for emergency response personnel which operate via the radio network (independent of the phone system) can be used for any emergency. The County can order a coordinated deployment of emergency responders via CWS to areas of need during a disaster.<\/p><h2 id=\"why-provide-the-cws\"><a id=\"why\" name=\"why\"><\/a>Why Provide the CWS?<\/h2><p>Our mission is to provide an alert and notification system that is able to:<\/p><ul><li>Immediately alert adjacent residents (one mile radius) to Shelter-in-Place in response to an emergency that may be harmful to their well being<\/li><li>Notify appropriate emergency response agencies concerning the emergency<\/li><li>Provide on-going updates about the incident and additional protective measures that may be required<\/li><\/ul><h2 id=\"guiding-principles\"><a id=\"principles\" name=\"principles\"><\/a>Guiding Principles<\/h2><ol><li>Recognize that people&#8217;s safety during an emergency is the highest priority.<\/li><li>Implement an alert and emergency notification system to reduce adverse impact for individuals affected during an emergency situation.<\/li><li>Foster an awareness of the alert and notification system throughout the county, and provide support for on-going education about &#8220;Shelter-in-Place&#8221; emergency measures.<\/li><li>Implement project in Phases, Phase I to be funded by a broad base of industries, and Phase 2 and all additional phases to be funded by public and other community agencies.<\/li><li>Gift the project to Contra Costa County at the completion of Phase I implementation.<a id=\"notification\" style=\"font-size: 22px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1px; word-spacing: 0.5px;\" name=\"notification\"><\/a><\/li><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contra Costa County&#8217;s Community Warning System (CWS) helps you, your family and your community learn how to best prepare for and handle emergencies. Overview of the CommunityWarning System How Does it Work? Why Provide the CWS? Guiding Principles Overview of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crhmro.org\/CAER\/prepare-for-emergencies\/\"> Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-left-sidebar.php","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crhmro.org\/CAER\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crhmro.org\/CAER\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crhmro.org\/CAER\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crhmro.org\/CAER\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crhmro.org\/CAER\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.crhmro.org\/CAER\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1577,"href":"https:\/\/www.crhmro.org\/CAER\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions\/1577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crhmro.org\/CAER\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}