Hormann America developed a Common Alerting Based warning system for states, counties and cities. Examples for a state installation are the Emergency Digital Information Service for the State of California and the State of Hawaii Warning System, and examples for county installation - Contra Costa Country and San Mateo County warning systems.

State System - California

 

Operated by the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, the Emergency Digital Information Service (EDIS) is the nation's first statewide warning system to use the Common Alerting Protocol. Through EDIS, California state, federal, and local agencies can post messages that are broadcast over the Emergency Alert System and delivered to subscribers over email, pagers, SMS, desktop pop-ups, and other means. The State's Emergency Alert System of broadcasters and cable systems can be activated using EDIS, which can provide both recorded and text-to-speech content for broadcast. EDIS also has a two-way link to the National Weather Service and NOAA Weather Radio. Public subscription to EDIS is available free at edis-by-email.net. (You can see a scrolling RSS EDIS feed on our home page).

County System - Contra Costa County

 

View youtube presentation at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esF3ynqUI_c

This award-winning system was created to provide warnings to residents living near oil refineries along San Francisco Bay in Contra Costa County. While that is still its primary purpose, the system has been expanded to provide all-hazards warning. Operated by the Contra Costa Sheriff's Office, the system includes more than 40 outdoor warning sirens and can send warnings via email, pager, SMS, "reverse 911" telephone notification, the Emergency Alert System, and other means. A map-based interface allows precise warnings of affected areas.

The Contra Costa Community Warning System (CWS) is an emergency warning system that consists of alert, notification and education functions. The alert and notification features are linked by a radio frequency network, and are designed to function when telephone systems fail. Signals carried by radio frequency can activate every part of the emergency system.

CWS is used to alert the community and emergency responders when there are hazardous materials incidents in any the multiple refineries and chemical plants in the county. It includes a system of more than 40 outdoor sirens that can be quickly sounded in the event of a chemical release that could affect the public. Emergency response agencies can also activate the warning system for transportation and other types of incidents.

The system's design features multiple safeguards-such as back-up power at each broadcast point, operation on multiple radio frequencies, and four broadcast towers within the county to receive and broadcast signals, giving the system an excellent chance of surviving a major earthquake.

Emergency Alert Receivers (EARs) are being placed in all schools (public and private), hospitals, daycare centers, convalescent hospitals and other critical locations in the county’s industrial corridor. The EARs can be used for any type of emergency.

Anguilla National Warning System

The island nation of Anguilla, in the Eastern Caribbean, selected Hormann America to design, develop software for, and supervise installation of a new warning system that makes use of broadcast radio, data-over-radio, and desktop pop-ups. The system, used for internal, interest group (tourism, etc.), and public notification, uses a single message created using the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) technology to drive all these warning devices.

San Mateo County

Hormann America provides several warning tools, including a new tsunami warning system, to this California County. Tsunami warnings are sounded by a system of nine warning sirens, telephone, radio, emails, SMS etc.