March 30, 2012
11:00 a.m.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

First Call Network Releases Data on Wildfire Notifications

Baton Rouge – First Call Network, the Louisiana-based company that installed Jefferson County’s emergency notification system last year released data today on the system’s performance in the wildfire Monday near Conifer in Jefferson County, Colorado.

According to Matt Teague, President of First Call Network, Jefferson County contracted with First Call to provide emergency notifications to county residents in 2011. The system provides the capability to automatically make phone calls and send text messages to land lines and registered cell phones in an affected area. The system relies on 911 data and GIS data sets for land line calls, all provided by the county. Cell phones and Email addresses must be registered in the system by users to be included in the notification.

“This was a tragic situation and our thoughts are with those who lost loved ones or had damage to homes and property,” said Teague.

Teague provided the following statistics on how the system performed Monday:
• Of the 1,089 land line phone numbers called, 957 were successful, reflecting an 88% success rate.
• Of the 955 successful calls, 919 listened to the entire message.
• The system documented that 36 phones were hung up before the entire message played.
• There were 32 calls that were not answered.
• There were 90 calls to phones that had been disconnected or were not set up to receive voice calls.
• There were 12 busy signals detected.

“Based on our experience with notifications we have performed in other locations across the country, these numbers indicate a very good success rate for the Jefferson County notification,” stated Teague.

The system also contacted a list of all users that registered for the system in Jefferson and Broomfield Counties. County officials made that decision, noted Teague.

“We have shared this information with county officials and are cooperating fully in a review of the system’s performance,” concluded Teague. “We will also work closely with Jefferson County in implementing any changes to the system that will improve future notifications.”

First Call Network, Inc. is based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and provides emergency notification technology and service to governments, industry and higher education institutions.
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First Call Network, Inc.
5423 Galeria Drive
Baton Rouge, LA
Matt Teague
225-295-8123
matt@firstcall.net

This release was published on openPR.