| A $62,500 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provided 809 Alert FM monitors for Gasconade County emergency management officials to distribute.
911 DISPATCHER Don Rendon and 911 manager Lisa Schlottach are shown with Dan Dyer at the dispatch center.
Dan Dyer, emergency manager for the county, delivered a unit this week to the county’s 911 dispatching center. Owensville’s park system will receive four of the units for placement at the golf course, pool, and concession stands at both ball fields at Memorial Park.
Dyer will distribute these monitors in high risk areas, schools, nursing homes, large businesses, senior centers, and areas where a large number of people would gather or live such as a mobile home park. These monitors will be used in conjunction with reverse 911 and will activate for tornado warnings issued in Gasconade County only.
Dyer also has the capability of typing other emergencies specific to Gasconade County through the Alert FM monitors such as boil orders, a nuclear emergency at the Callaway nuclear plant, no-burn orders, and Amber Alert messages.
Lisa Schlottach, manager of the 911 center in Owensville, said “the alert FM monitors will be a great resource to be added to our existing reverse 911 system.”
Gasconade County is one of only four in Missouri to receive the grant. Grants were awarded to counties near the Callaway plant. While the county intends to continue using its reverse 911 calling system to reach an estimated 6,500 residences, the FM monitors offer a second-level of protection in case of a wide-spread emergency. “It’s a back-up to the back-up,” said Dyer. |
