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Our last update included a contact form for you to identify who will serve as your agency’s System Administrator and Data Coordinator(s) for the new alerting system we plan to implement soon. If you have not already done so, it’s imperative that you complete and return that form to our office immediately as we need to start populating that database for both the vendor and our purposes.

Our next steps are that we anticipate Public Safety Committee approval on April 7 to advance our vendor recommendation to the full Erie County Legislature on April 14. The resolution will then go to our legal department for contract approval and execution. We expect that this phase should move smoothly and quickly, allowing us to move forward with implementation.

Once all of the approvals are in place, we will issue a formal announcement and details as to what additional information we will need from your agencies next. Implementation will take place on a phased PSAP by PSAP basis, with a pilot project starting with East Aurora Fire/Police Dispatch in the upcoming month.

USER RESPONSIBILITIES:

Siren Activation: If your agency/PSAP is currently using our Alerting System to activate your fire or EMS siren; you will need to create a new interface to facilitate siren activation.

Equipment needed for siren activation under the new Alerting System:

Option 1:   A base radio capable of quick call one paging tones and a relay closure.

Option 2:  A Minitor 4 or 5 pager with a charger amplifier.

Your PSAP/Dispatch will have to add paging tones to the radio console if they have not done so already.

We will supply the parts necessary for the connection from the pager charger amplifier to the siren controller. Contact our Fire Radio Repair Shop at 662-5009 with any questions about integrating your siren with the new alerting system.

TV Monitors: Your agency and PSAP/Dispatch will be responsible for purchasing, connecting, maintaining, repairing and replacing any TV monitors you wish to implement for in-station or dispatch use. The monitors must either be SmartTVs or otherwise WiFi enabled; or have a display connection compatible with the computer you provide and connect to for Alerting System data entry, maintenance and administration; and displaying of system information. We will offer technical support for making those connections as appropriate.

We are excited to be moving forward with this significant evolution of secondary emergency alerting capabilities in Erie County and we know you’ll have lots of good questions, so please be patient until we have more specifics to share and stay tuned to all of our normal outreach channels.

Stay tuned to fax, email and our social media channels for frequent updates as this system is implemented. Feel free to contact our Alerting Help Desk at 961-7893 or alert@erie.gov with any questions. Thanks.

ALERTING SYSTEM PROJECT TIMELINE AS OF: 3/29/2016