By Logan Bagett on Friday, July 28th, 2023 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News More Top Stories
GRANT COUNTY โ Last weekend, an emergency evacuation was issued to a few residents near the Golden Fire in Klamath County. An Emergency Alert System (EAS) was broadcast statewide due to operator error. The error in the system has been fixed and the alert will not repeat. The Oregon Department of Emergency Management issued a statement saying the agency, โregrets this error and apologizes for any inconvenience.โ
According to Grant County Emergency Management Coordinator Eric Bush recently stated that the Grant County Emergency Alert and Warning system, Everbridge, is a proprietary system purchased and provided by Oregon to counties for no cost.
Bush was on KJDYโs Coffee Time, coincidentally a few days before the statewide error, and said:
โThere are new requirements that have just come out regarding using the system, and different security protocols. Weโre constantly having to react to those and do additional training, so we can be prepared to send those messages out as quickly as possible.โ
Bust explained on the Grant County Emergency Management Facebook page that Grant County had another system previously, which cost $3,000-per-year in subscription fees.
Bush said, โEverbridge is a very robust and capable system, but not as user friendly. It requires monthly testing and extensive training to use effectively. We have trained personnel here in Grant County, but there is a โsoftโ cost to maintaining those skills, that cannot be ignored.โ
Follow Grant County Emergency Management on Facebook.