Explanation of IPAWS and the NWS EAS notifications available to the County:

When an incident occurs that can potentially endanger County residents or pose an imminent threat to life and/or personal safety, immediate emergency notification to the community in the affected area is imperative. Previously, this required people to register for warnings and alerts through CodeRed. As of February 1, 2024, the Grant County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) initiated the use of IPAWS -Integrated Public Alert & Warning System | FEMA.gov.

IPAWS is a tool developed through FEMA that allows public safety agencies to notify the public of disasters and deliver emergency and public safety notifications. IPAWS allows for notifications to be sent to every cell phone in the County or only to cell phones in designated areas of the County.

Most importantly, it doesn't require people to register in advance. You might have received a specific type of IPAWS alert in the past - the Amber Alert that is sent when a child is missing and endangered.

Use of the IPAWS system in the County will continue to increase and be used to notify residents and visitors about potentially life-threatening emergencies and any preparations and actions they may need to take. The new capabilities will work in conjunction with the existing emergency alert system, CodeRED.

Additionally, the Grant County Office of Emergency Management has partnered with the National Weather Service (NWS) to send non-weather related emergency messages through the Emergency Alert System (EAS). These are messages broadcast over the radio. The NWS currently uses this to provide weather related messages such as a severe thunderstorm warning or a flash flood warning. The NWS, in conjunction with the Grant OEM, will also be sending radio broadcast messages for incidents such as a wildfire warning, law enforcement warning, evacuation warning, local area emergency and other non-weather related events.