Putnam County 911, in cooperation with our “Emergency Service Agencies”, have created an Emergency Notification System called “E-Alert”. The system is unique in that it will not only allow the notification of emergency personnel, but also the citizens of Putnam County in the case of a disaster, threatening weather, missing children or other emergency situations.

The system will allow several different notifications to happen near simultaneously. We realize that every second counts in an emergency and have created a system to get alerts out to citizens as fast as possible.

Read below for a breakdown of all aspects of our unique system.

Emergency Personnel – the system will allow all personnel to be notified automatically by alpha pager and cell phone email in case of disaster. This will dramatically decrease response time and the time it takes to get off duty personnel notified. Putnam County has some 500 personnel associated with EMS, Fire, Police and Rescue agencies.

AM-FM Radio – the system will allow local radio stations to be interrupted with special emergency statements. The system uses “EAS”(emergency alert system) technology already in use by the National Weather Service. One emergency message is created and transmitted to all radio stations at the same time. Motorists traveling in and around Putnam County will be alerted to hazardous situations. This also allows descriptions of missing children and adults to be broadcast out to motorists to be on the lookout for these individuals.

Channel 22 TV – is the only local TV station to be broadcast over regular UHF antenna. This will allow residents to receive emergency messages over portable battery operated units during power outages. WCTE has generator backup for it’s transmitters which allows broadcasting to continue during those power outages. The same “EAS” transmissions used for radio will also be used to break into local TV programming.

Cable TV – our system allows for local cable TV to be interrupted with voice alerts. No matter which channel a citizen may be viewing, the alert will override all programming to allow emergency messages to be heard. Using a different technology, Charter Cable has worked with emergency officials for several years to provide emergency broadcasts.

AM Transmitter – thanks to a Homeland Security Grant, Putnam County is installing its own AM radio transmitter. The transmitter will be located on one of our tower sites in Cookeville that will allow the signal to cover Interstate 40, Hwy 111 and most of the major thorough fares in Cookeville. The system will broadcast emergency messages to motorists traveling through the Cookeville area. Special alerts such as temporary road closures, weather warnings and emergency situations will keep motorists abreast of emergencys in Putnam County. The transmitter will broadcast on AM 1610. New sites are currently being installed in Algood and Baxter to exapnd the signal. These sites should be operational by summer of 2007.

Outdoor Warning Sirens - Putnam County has several outdoor warning sirens that alert citizens outdoors of severe weather warnings or special emergency situations.

Emergency Notification System - that will allow residents to be notified by telephone of emergency situations. Putnam County received a Homeland Security grant that allowed for the system to be purchased and installed. Working with our GIS mapping system, residents of a particular area could be notified by dialing each phone and playing a pre-recorded emergency message. The system allows for hundreds of calls to be made in a matter of minutes.

Special Signs - on major roads and I-40 that will notify motorists to tune to local AM-FM radio stations for special emergency alerts.