Manhattan Fire Protection District Urges Residents to Sign Up for Emergency Alert Notifications

The Manhattan Fire Protection District is urging its residents to go online and register for the Will County Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Notification System, Smart Message. This system will issue notifications about potential safety hazards or concerns via voice or text communication methods. “We would like residents to sign up for the program because of the Reverse 9-1-1 capabilities. This system will let subscribers know about imminent threats to health, safety and property,” stated Manhattan Fire Chief Dan Forsythe.

When you register online you can select your preferred method of communication. This could include a cell phone, work phone, text message, e-mail, home phone and more. You can also choose the locations you want to be contacted about. You can receive notifications about emergencies and other events that may impact the area around your home, your parents' home, your workplace, and your child's school, as long as those locations are within the boundaries of a participating Will County community.

Some residents may already receive the notifications on their home phones even though they haven’t signed up. Will County has chosen to automatically import publicly available landline phone information from the White Pages into the mass notification system. If you do not sign up for this system, you will only receive Emergency Alert notifications on your landline phone, but nowhere else. However, if you have an unlisted traditional landline, or you only use a cell phone, you MUST sign up to receive alerts.

To register for this service go to WillCountyEMA.org and select the ‘Emergency Notification Sign Up’ tab. Once you sign up, you will be able to update your information in the system if it changes.

The information that you provide will be used for mass notification system purposes only. Will County will not give or sell your telephone numbers or email addresses to any third-party vendor or other public or private organization. Please note that this system is not being used as a severe weather notification system.

For more information visit WillCountyEMA.org or ManhattanFire.org