NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — With Sedgwick County selected as one of the counties across the country to be part of the latest test of Wireless Emergency Alerts on Monday, it's important to note that the capabilities of those alerts have been used in emergency situations in Reno County, as well, according to Reno County Emergency Management director Adam Weishaar.
"The last time we've done that is during The Highlands wildfire as we were ordering evacuations," said Reno County Emergency Management Director Adam Weishaar. "We can actually get in there, we can see a map and we can draw what we call a polygon around a certain area, so if we wanted to target the Highlands like we did, we draw on the map exactly where we want that alert to go out to and it sends a notification to cell phones pinging in that area."
The test on Monday is to determine the accuracy of those polygons in a small area of Wichita. Weishaar said that isn't the fastest way for Reno County to send out alerts.
"The wireless alerts are good," Weishaar said. "The only downfall, in my opinion, to those alerts is the timing it takes to get them out. Once we click the button, or once we develop a message and send them out, I would say there's approximately a 10 to 15 minute delay before it actually hits your cell phones. We do have the Everbridge system. You can sign up for those alerts and we can send those out a little quicker than we can an IPAWS message."
The National Weather Service also sends out Wireless Emergency Alerts in some situations for severe weather like tornado and flash flood warnings.