Colorado Springs Fire: Turn on emergency alerts ahead of wildfire season
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — The Colorado Springs Fire Department is reminding residents to sign up for emergency alerts while wildfire season gears up. Fire officials say residents don't realize their phones can potentially save their lives if a wildfire was to break out in their area.
According to CSFD, cellphones are the fastest way to get notified if you need to leave your home before flames arrive.
“You can get up to five locations under an account and eight phone numbers, which is excellent. So make sure that you go to people or get signed up because that's how you're going to get that warning.” Sunny Smaldino with the Colorado Springs Fire Department said.
In Colorado Springs, firefighters rely on notifications through Peak Alerts. It's a system that sends emergency notifications to your phone during dangerous situations including natural and man-made disasters and heavy law enforcement presence, like shelter-in-place orders.
CSFD says evacuation notices are the top alerts, and as the spring continues to bring dry and windy conditions, the potential for wildfires is extreme.
“What we don't want you to do is disable that feature on your phone. We want you to get as many warnings as possible. So that you do stay safe” Smaldino added.
Tuesday night, the CSFD held the first of at least 20 Town Hall meetings all across the city. Those meetings are aimed at warning of the dangers ahead this spring and summer.
