You never know when an emergency might strike. It could be a fast-moving storm, an active shooter incident, a missing person alert or some other type of man-made or natural disaster.
That’s why Hamilton County’s Office of Emergency Management (HCOEM) Public Relations Manager Amy Maxwell, urges residents to register for their emergency notification system called REGROUP.
Maxwell said the county used to have a notification system which wasn’t too successful. “I think because a lot of it had to do with the fact that we hadn't seen the severe weather that we then saw in 2010 and 2011 with the tornadoes,” she said. “Then we saw more in 2020.”
She said because of the increase in severe weather the county switched to a system called IPAWS.
The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) is a national system, managed by FEMA, that sends emergency and life-saving information to the public through multiple communication pathways simultaneously.
Maxwell said there were no sign-ups for IPAWS. “If you were in the vicinity of Hamilton County, we had the ability to send out an emergency message in the event that we had a threat in our community,” she said.
Maxwell said HCOEM realized the county’s topography and different cell service providers meant many residents weren’t alerted to possible dangers and hazards while using IPAWS. She said HCOEM looked at various notification systems and launched REGROUP in April 2024.
She said the county partnered with large local corporations like Coca-Cola, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Unum and encouraged their employees and family members to register for REGROUP to receive emergency notifications. Initial notifications indicated REGROUP was working as expected.
Maxwell said REGROUP is used for several scenarios. “It’s not only for severe weather,” she said. “We’ve used this in support of our Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and Chattanooga Police Department with locating missing people. We used it when we had to notify the vicinity of the area of that potential active shooter that occurred at UTC Chattanooga. Obviously, and thankfully, that turned out to be a swatting call. We've used it for sheltering in place as needed like when we had a train derailment with a biohazard spill.”
Maxwell said using REGROUP, the HCOEM can precisely pinpoint the area that needs the notification. “We don’t have to notify the entire county if the incident is isolated to one section of the community,” she said, “We’re not bothering somebody that's on the other side of town.”
Maxwell said there are approximately 30,000 residents registered but the county has a population of roughly 375,000 people.“People tend to wait,” she said. “They don’t register until they see that a severe weather system is headed our way. But as I mentioned, we use this notification system for much more than bad weather.”
Maxwell said people might shy away from registering thinking their personal information might be compromised. “All their information is secured in our office only,” she said. “It’s on a secured site and it’s not shared with any outside party.”
To register all you need to enter is your name, phone and address. “The reason we need your address is in case we need to pinpoint the area that is going to be notified,” she said. “We need the cell phone number in case they are out and about they can receive a text to alert them of any potential danger. They may need to delay going home or stay sheltered in place.”
Messages sent for types of emergencies:
- Severe Weather
- Active Shooter
- Radiological Emergencies at Sequoyah Nuclear Plant
- Evacuations: Flooding, Wildfires or Hazardous Materials Spill
- Shelter-in-Place procedures
- Missing Person
Register online at: https://bit.ly/4cFwoQH