Sagadahoc County will soon implement a new county wide notification system to reach citizens and businesses during emergencies.

The new alert system uses both landline and cellphones, and requires users of both to visit the county’s website to enter phone and address information to ensure the system is effective.

According to an announcement about the new notification system, the county “has contracted with Emergency Communications Network to license its CodeRED highspeed notification solution. The CodeRED system provides county officials the ability to quickly deliver emergent messages to targeted areas or the entire county.”

The system will go live on July 1.

Misty Mixon, Sagadahoc County’s emergency management agency director, cautioned in the release that such systems are only as good as the telephone number database supporting them.

“If your phone number is not in the database, you will not be called,” she said.

One of the reasons county officials chose the CodeRED system is that it gives individuals and businesses the ability to add their own phone numbers directly into the system’s database.

“No one should automatically assume his or her phone number is included,” Mixon said.

She urges all individuals and businesses to sign up by logging onto the Sagadahoc County Emergency Management Agencies website at sagcounty.com. Click on the Emergency Management Agency and Board of Health link on the left side of the page.

Those without Internet access can call 443-8211 and leave a message that includes first and last name, physical street address (no post office boxes), city, state, ZIP code, and primary phone number.

All businesses should register, as well as all individuals who have unlisted phone numbers, who have changed their phone number or address within the past year, and those who use a cellphone or VoIP (voice over Internet phone) as their primary number.

“CodeRED allows geographically based delivery, which means street addresses are required to ensure emergency notification calls are received by the proper individuals in a given situation,” Mixon said. “The system works for cellphones too, but we need to have an associated street address to provide relevant messages.”

Mixon added that data collected will only be used for emergency notification purposes.

Sagadahoc Sheriff Joel Merry said CodeRED is similar to the reverse 911 systems that allow automated messages to go out through 911 centers. The big difference, however, is that those system worked only for published landline phone numbers.

“This is a lot different,” Merry said. “This is new technology.”

If an emergency message goes out to a particular area that includes the address of a cellphone user, “your cellphone is going to be called,” Merry said. “The old 911 reverse system didn’t have that.”

As an example, Merry said the system could have been used last week during the flooding that caused road closures and some roads to wash out.

Sagadahoc County residents who list their cellphone as their home number, Merry said, “could be at work and get a message that whatever road you live on, for example the Dead River Road in Bowdoin, is closed due to flooding.”

Another example is if a child were to go missing, law enforcement could deliver a phone message to everyone in that area to notify them of the situation.

The new notification system allows county officials to pinpoint alerts to a neighborhood or single road.

Merry emphasized the emergency notification system will only be used to issue important, emergency notices, such as public safety risks or to alert county residents of the presence of a dangerous suspect.

It will not be used for general community announcements, such as, “This is a note to remind you there is a chicken barbecue Friday,” Merry said.

Only Merry and Mixon will be able to access the system, the sheriff said.

“I’m excited about it,” Merry said. “I think it’s a really good tool and I’m glad we have it in a real small county like this.” It may not be used often, “but I think it is invaluable in those times you need it and to have the resources available is a very good thing.”

Mike Labbe, Topsham’s EMA director, said emergency management professionals could use the system to notify residents and businesses of flash flooding or potential hazards. The fire department could use it to notify people of a chemical spill, or to evacuate an area or direct people to a shelter with instructions. He cited the ice storm of 1998 as an example when this system could have been used to inform people of shelter locations and to provide updates on power outages.

“It’s a nice tool we can use in the future, and hope we never need,” Labbe said.

Questions can be directed to the Sagadahoc County Emergency Management Agency office at 443-8210.