Franklin County and Twenty First Century Communications to Test Emergency Notification System

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28, 2005

Columbus, Ohio:  The emergency notification system employed by the city of Columbus, the Ohio State University and the Franklin County Commissioners will call about 40,000 residents, students and businesses during a scheduled exercise next week.

The Universal Communications System (UCS) developed by a Columbus-based company, Twenty First Century Communications (TFCC), is a high-speed telephone emergency notification system which has the largest call handling capability in North America. Originally developed to help electric utility customers report power outages, the system has been refined to reach millions of people instantly and serves government agencies, public safety entities, businesses and other participating organizations.

The company is operating the national 1-877-Loved-1s program, which has helped to reunite more than 40,000 family members and friends since September 2. During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, TFCC handled nearly three million calls and as of September 26 had taken nearly 300,000 calls from clients affected by Hurricane Rita.

Universal communications systems are gaining wider use by local governments to alert residents in the event of an emergency, threat, or crisis as well as to check on health and safety.  Calls can be tailored to a specific street or set of blocks, as in the case of a hazardous waste spill, or to check on a particular population, like the well-being of senior citizens during extremely hot or cold weather.

In addition to sending outbound emergency notification, the system can be programmed to receive inbound calls to handle hotlines, get information, and report damage.

On Thursday, Emergency Management Agency and Twenty First Century staff will prepare targeted geographic calling areas through a web-based polygon or map, record the emergency message, and fine-tune the audiences who will be called.   

After the exercise next Tuesday, TFCC will analyze results and use them to help other agencies nationwide. They are conducting similar exercises in Manatee County, Florida, and Vancouver, Washington.