GENERAL INFORMATION

Alert Porter County is Porter County’s official emergency alert and notification system. This system is used to send alerts to the public and internally to county employees during emergencies. Alert Porter County is a free service that allows you to sign-up online to receive customized alerts via text message, email, and voice message as well as social media (Facebook and Twitter). In addition to emergency alerts, you can choose to receive customizable notifications such as severe weather, health, and special event information. This service is provided by Porter County at no cost to the public; however, message and data rates may apply. 

Receive real-time alerts regarding severe weather watches and warnings, county building closures or special event information that may affect travel, business activity and safety. By signing up for Alert Porter County, you will be among the first to know. 

This service is provided by Porter County at no cost to the public;  however, message and data rates may apply depending on your provider and  phone services. During the sign-up process you have the option of how you want to be  notified and the types of alerts to receive. For any type of  notification you choose to receive, you can specify whether you want  text message, email, voice delivery ‐ or a combination of any of these. 

Alert Porter County simply serves as another tool to keep the public  informed during emergencies. By signing up, the public can receive  real-time alerts directly on their preferred devices in the event you  are not near your television, radio or do not have access to your social  media sites. 

Notifications are not issued for every event. Due to factors beyond the  control of Porter County, there is no guarantee of notification. Disasters and emergencies are unpredictable and chaotic. Notifications  are dependent on external providers such as wireless carriers or e-mail  delivery service(s) outside of the control of Porter County. The system  Alert Porter County is built on utilizes several means of communications  to ensure that should one communication method, technology, or delivery  option be unavailable, other methods will be utilized to improve the  likelihood that citizens will see the message.   

Emergency alerts are sent 24/7 when there is an immediate threat to life  and/or property. In addition to emergency alerts, you can also choose  to receive customizable community notifications. 

Some examples of alerts sent include:

• Severe Weather
• Beach Hazards
• County Office Closures
• Emergency Preparedness Meetings
• Health Dangers
• Prescribed Burns
• Road Closures
• Special Event Information
• Test Messages

All text messages sent from Alert Porter County are sent using five or  six-digit numbers called ‟short codes”. When you receive an alert via a  short code, you’ll receive a message from either of the two following  short code numbers: 67283 and 226787. We encourage you to save these  numbers in your phone’s address or contacts list. Simply create a  contact entitled ‟Alert Porter County” and add the numbers above to the  standard phone number field. This way, when you receive an alert message  these will be more recognizable to as an official communication from  the County. Text message and email alerts from Alert Porter County will  start with Porter Co: [then the remainder of the message will be typed  here]. This is another way to see that this message came from the  County.  Voice message alerts may be sent from the phone number  219-465-3400 (Porter County Administration), 219-465-3490 (Porter County  EMA) or from 9-1-1 (Porter County 9-1-1). Email messages will originate  from email address porterco@getrave.com. This e-mail is not a monitored e-mail. Do not attempt to send email to this address; it is used for outbound messaging only. 

You are not able to reply to texts or email sent by Alert Porter County.  Voice messages provide a dial-back number that will ring to various  county departments. However, those answering the phone at the call-back  number may not be responsible for sending the message. If you have  questions regarding an alert, e-mail help.alert@porterco.org.  

Once you have signed up online at www.smart911.com and confirmed your contact information within the system, you will begin receiving alerts. 

The majority of alerts are sent out by County officials representing EMA  and 9-1-1. Other alerts, such as many of the weather related alerts are  automated and are prompted upon the National Weather Service issuing  weather watches and warnings for the various zip codes in Porter County.  

Yes. You will receive alerts on numbers outside of Porter County’s area  codes provided you have registered them on your Smart911 profile.

If a call completes and is sent to your answering machine or voice mail  system, a message is left. If a phone call is not answered or busy, the  system redials your number a couple of times. Officials do have the  option to change the number of re-dial attempts and may choose to do so  based on the severity of the event; however, the system default is two  attempts. 

Alert Porter County messages are more likely to be delivered to your  devices than messages sent from local phone numbers during emergency  situations where telecommunications are down; however, receipt of Alert  Porter County messages is not guaranteed. The vendor for Alert Porter  County, Rave Mobile Safety, supports mass notifications via  geographically redundant systems, including systems hosted outside of  Porter County and Indiana, to improve reliability and redundancy while  lessening reliance on local infrastructure that might be distressed  during an event. Receipt of Alert Porter County messages may depend on  your phone carrier and their cell phone tower operations, network  connectivity, or other factors.