Residents Urged To Enroll In New SMC Alert System

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — San Mateo County has a new emergency alert and warning system, and officials are urging residents to enroll.

Those who live and work in San Mateo County can now get messages via text, email and voice that include maps, images and multiple languages.

SMCalert is a free notification system used to immediately alert you of urgent or emergency situations.

Senders include the county and its cities; the new alert system has an improved identification component to show recipients exactly which agency sent the message.

The new features of SMCalert aim to empower residents by providing key information to help keep them safe and navigate away from incidents like major traffic delays and detours, wildfires, floods and mountain lions.

The added capabilities are due to a new vendor, RAVE, which replaces former provider Everbridge.

The new system also lets users choose to receive messages in English, Spanish or Simplified Chinese.

Existing recipients of SMCalert are encouraged to create a new account to enable the new features. Those who don't upgrade will continue receiving alerts as before, but won't be able to take advantage of the added features.

Those who do not currently use SMCalert are also urged to sign up and customize the types of alerts they’d like to receive.

To sign up, visit here.