Residents urged to sign up for RAVE

WINSTON COUNTY -  The tragedy of young Sarah Marsh, an Alabama resident swept away along with others during the flood at Camp Mystic in Texas last year, has prompted Governor Kay Ivey to unify counties across the state in how they send and receive emergency communications.
House Bill 381, also known as Sarah Marsh Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act, aims to improve safety throughout Alabama by establishing plans addressing a range of situations in which campers and staff may be endangered, such as severe storms, flash flooding and other natural or man-made disasters, according to a copy of a press release from Ivey’s office.
“Keeping children safe must always come first,” Ivey stated. “Parents should have confidence that their children are protected when they are away from home.”
HB 381 has multiple components, including Ivey launching a statewide flood notification system, which coincided with State Representative David Faulkner’s bill to establish safety requirements for state summer camps.
The bill, which was signed by into law by Ivey earlier this year, becomes effective January 1, 2027, ordering summer camps to comply with the  requirements, state officials said.
This, in turn, has brought out the local need in Winston County for residents to sign up for the RAVE emergency notification system which, due to HB 381, has become a statewide emergency notification system recommended by the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, according to Winston County EMA Director A.J. Brown.
In ordering camps to comply with new safety and alert notifications, a mass notification system for the state was introduced, Winston County EMA Director A.J. Brown explained.
Winston County has been using the RAVE notification system since January 1, 2022,  one of the few counties in the state using  it - but was not receiving state funding for it, Brown said.
“Prior to the state doing what they are now doing (with HB 381), it was costing the county around $5,600 a year for our system,” Brown pointed out. “That was funded through EMA.”
Brown stressed HB 381 has also resulted in changes to emergency notification systems in every county in the state.
“House Bill 381 reinvigorated the idea that Alabama has had a law for a statewide mass notification system for several years,” Brown pointed out.
“However, when that law was passed, there was no funding attached to that,” Brown added. “That was put on state EMA, but state EMA was given no funding to be able to do that.
“The state was looking at that point, trying to figure out how we could do it with the current budget that we had at the state level and it is just not feasible,” Brown continued. 
Brown illustrated that Winston County, with a population of about 24,000, was having to pay $5,600 from the EMA account to fund the RAVE program.
“It was an exorbitant amount of money and the state EMA budget just couldn’t eat that much of a budget cut,” Brown stated.
“It went into effect, they said we had to do it, but we never were able to pull the trigger and actually implement that system,” he added.
When HB 381 was signed into law, funding was attached, with the state EMA encouraging all counties to have the same notification system for weather-related alerts or any emergency events where mass notification of residents is required, Brown explained.
“The  biggest use of RAVE for us is weather alerts,” said Brown. “That’s what we bought into it for in the beginning of 2022.”
The RAVE alert system sends out notifications to all participating persons who sign up for the program either by text, a phone call, e-mail or a combination of these alerts, Brown explained.
These alerts can be for a hazardous chemical spill, severe thunderstorm warning, tornado watch, tornado warning or any extreme weather event such as heat advisory or extreme cold, according to Winston EMA.

Winston County 
residents urged to sign up for RAVE emergency 
notifications

Only 1,000 of Winston County’s approximate 24,000 population have signed up for RAVE, so Brown is urging county residents to take part in this system free of charge, so they can receive mass notifications.
Those needing to sign up can go online to smart911.com and create an account, then can put in medical information, set up how they would like to receive notifications and indicate the number of people living in the household, Brown urged.
“Through that system, I can reach every cell phone in Winston County with the push of one or two buttons,” Brown said.
“it gives you the option of going in and putting medical information and information about your household.  What that does for me and the EMA office is gives me information. When I sit down and start looking at hazard mitigation planning or if we have a disaster and I need to know where are people who cannot evacuate a home on their own because they are bedridden?
“Where are people that are on home oxygen that have to have power at all times for medical devices?” Brown continued. “You can put that information in the system.”
If Winston County has an event where there are a lot of power outages in particular areas of the county, EMA will have information in the RAVE system of residents in need of special requirements or devices, if they provide that upon signing up, Brown continued.
“That helps us start planning,” he said. “I’m asking people to put in as much (information) as they can because it helps us in planning and understanding where our vulnerable population is.  We need people to opt in.
“If I can show that I have a huge vulnerable population in this area, it opens up grant money to be available to the county and the cities,” Brown pointed out.
Due to the state EMA now funding the RAVE notification system, the $5,600 the county EMA was paying per year for the service, will be used in other needful areas, Brown explained.
Brown’s last payment of $5,600 from the county EMA funds was made in January - the last payment he anticipates having to make for RAVE, Brown said.
“The legislature has funded it, guaranteed for three years,” he added. “The more we can show the state how it’s being used and serving its purpose, we can keep that funding.”