With months of severe weather still on tap for the Tennessee Valley, Rhea County Emergency has implemented the Hyper-Reach system. Hyper-Reach is an advanced system that will contact residents of Rhea County as well as people traveling through the county of severe weather, hazardous conditions, or other emergencies.
Rhea County Commission Chairman Jim Reed, who is also the chairman of the Rhea County Fire Authority Board, said this is culmination of a year’s work.
“We have put a lot of responsibility on Emergency Management Director Brad Harrison with this project,” said Chairman Reed.
“Our job is to protect the citizens of Rhea County as effectively and cost efficiently as possible,” said Mr. Harrison.
Director Harrison also credited the Fire Authority Board and especially County Commissioner Nick Welch in working with him to select the correct vendor for this project.
“We reviewed all the major vendors for emergency notification services and Hyper-Reach gave us everything we needed at an unbelievable price. We are excited about this new capability,” said Mr. Harrison.
He told the County Commission and the audience in attendance that EMA plans to use the service primarily for alerts about weather and environmental hazards, criminal activity, and missing persons. Mr. Harrison continued by saying that some 13,000 landlines of residents and businesses have been automatically enrolled for Community Alerts, but weather alerts to Voice over Internet phones, mobile phones and email addresses are only included when people enroll in the program.
Residents and people who live or work in Rhea County are encouraged to enroll now using a county address either by calling or texting “Alert” to (423) 515-5415 or by going to the website: http://hyper-reach.com/tnrheasignup.html. A QR box is provided below that you can use the phone on your camera to take you to the website.
Residents with Alexa enabled smart speakers can say “Alexa, enable Hyper-Reach and follow the Alexa-provided instructions.
Residents can also download the Hyper-Reach Anywhere app on their smartphones. Hyper-Reach Anywhere is a free smartphone application that allows individuals residents to manage and monitor the alerts they receive, both for their home, office, and other addresses they care about, such as those of elderly relatives or friends.
Mr. Harrison informed the County Commission that as of right now, he along with EMA Deputy Director Karson Dye and EMA Operations Manager Kyle Argo are the only ones that can work on the system so far.
Commission Chairman Reed said that this is just the first part of two more phases that will be implemented over the next few months. “The schools will not be in on this service. They have their own system for their messages. This is strictly for emergency conditions. The last thing we want people getting into thinking there it goes off again. We are excited about this system. Even people just passing through will be able to be notified of weather or any other problems,” he said.
EMA Director Harrison said that all the volunteer fire departments in the county will be putting the QR code and the other information on their Facebook pages for everyone to get the information to sign up.