Alert Apps

Written By Nancy Hepp

By Doak Mahlik

An important element of being prepared is remaining informed. Consider expanding the methods you use to keep up-to-date when agencies issue watches and alerts.

Weather radio

Weather radios are great way to keep informed about meteorological developments and emergencies via the National Weather Service (NWS). More specifically, weather radios with SAME technology (Specific Area Message Encoding) allow you to define a geographic area of interest. When a NWS office broadcasts a warning, watch, or non-weather emergency, it also broadcasts a digital SAME code that may be heard as a brief static burst, depending on the characteristics of the receiver. This SAME code contains the type of message, counties affected, and message expiration time.  

Weather radios are available from online retailers and manufacturers like Midland. They range in cost from $30 to $50 depending on features, like desk models or portable hand-cranked designs or solar-powered.

Mobile phone notifications

Mobile phones typically receive weather and safety alerts without any additional applications.  However, it is important to choose the correct phone settings to receive the alerts. On an iPhone:

  1. Open the Settings app. (This is the “grey gear” icon).

  2. Tap Notifications.

  3. Scroll to the bottom and find Government Alerts.

  4. Toggle the types of alerts you want to receive (AMBER Alerts, Emergency Alerts, Public Safety Alerts, and test alerts).

On an Android phone:

  1. Open the Settings app. (This is the “grey gear” icon).

  2. Tap Safety and emergency.

  3. Scroll to the bottom and find Wireless emergency alerts.

  4. Toggle the types of alerts you want to receive (AMBER Alerts, Emergency Alerts, Public Safety Alerts, etc.).

Warning Apps

A mobile app, myAlerts, is Island County's emergency alerting service. Residents and visitors can receive life-saving emergency alerts and advanced warning of severe weather directly on an Android or Apple iOS phone or tablet. You can choose to receive:

  • Severe weather alerts

  • Public safety alerts

  • Community notifications 

You can download the free myAlerts app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.  

For more detailed information on wildland fires, Watch Duty is a web app that provides information and tools for firefighters and the public. The app presents active and historical fire perimeters, satellite hotspots, power outages, weather, air quality, and more. Author’s note: I personally used Watch Duty last year to track the large fires on the Olympic Peninsula, and recently used it to map a near-by wildland fire while visiting in Costa Rica since the heat data is collected via satellite. Combined with the apps local weather data, it was very helpful in planning possible evacuation routes.

You can download the basic Watch Duty app for free from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, with more features being available with a donation to the nonprofit that manages the system.

Nancy Hepp