January 2023

Kelly Crouch, CFA Legislative Information Liaison
Sharon Coleman, CFA Legislative Legal Analyst

Information and time are crucial elements during disasters or when an emergency response is necessary. Fanciers can benefit from enhanced systems, often provided by for-profit third-party companies, to improve fundamental government alerts and responses. They can help fanciers avoid problem areas, get the best evacuation paths, or increase their chances of survival if an emergency response is required.  

Enhanced emergency response systems, like Smart911, enable registrants to volunteer helpful information, including family or caregiver information, medical conditions and disabilities, addresses, utility information, and even animals, including pets and livestock. According to Smart911, the information provided is available only to 911 call takers when a registrant calls them. Fanciers will want to carefully consider the information they provide to this or similar systems, given the laws in their area and personal comfort level with privacy concerns. Since this is a nationwide program, should a fancier live somewhere that does not use the service, they may still want to consider the benefits of registering with such a system for when they travel, including using cell phone data to route the call appropriately.

Enhanced evacuation planning systems like Zonehaven, operating in Northern California and Southern Oregon, work with local governments to provide enhanced information for emergency awareness and avoidance for communicating to the entire population. The government uses this information in its public notification alerts. People can also go to the website or app to get evacuation statuses for their area.

Emergency notification and response systems save lives. However, fanciers should carefully consider the information they provide such systems. The broadly disseminated public alerts generally do not require much personal information. Emergency responses, though, are focused on the individual where personal information is critical.

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