IN AN EMERGENCY, SECONDS COUNT!

The City of Portland has instituted the CodeRED Emergency Notification System -- an ultra high-speed telephone communication service for emergency notifications. This system allows us to telephone everyone or targeted areas of the City in case of an emergency situation that requires immediate action (such as a missing child, a hazardous materials spill or to give hurricane evacuation instructions). The system is capable of dialing 1,000 phone numbers per minute. It then delivers our recorded message to a live person or an answering machine, making three attempts to connect to any number.

While we make every attempt to include all regular Portland telephone numbers in the call list, you can add your home number to the list just in case. It's okay if you add a number that is already in the system as we will delete any duplicates.

As an alternative, you can include your cellular phone in the call list so that you will be notified of events that concern your home address or another address such as a relative's home or your child's school. The calling lists are based on the address, so if you want to assign your cell number to say, your child's school, be sure you have the address of the school before clicking on the link below. In the space for the address, enter the school's address instead of your home address. Add your cell number as the 'Primary Phone'.

At the present time, only one location can be assigned to a single telephone number. So, you must decide what address your cell number will be associated with. For instance, if you have already assigned your cell number to your home address, adding your cell number to another address will then delete the connection to your home address. This is a limitation of the system and we are working to improve it.

• utility system outages
• hurricane evacuation notice & route
• missing person
• fires
• chemical spills or gas leaks
• other emergency incidents where rapid and accurate notification is essential for life safety.