Are You Signed Up? Local Emergency Alerts Could Give You the Warning You Need
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There is one preparedness step that takes only a few minutes, costs nothing, and could give you critical extra time when an emergency happens:
Sign up for your local emergency notification system.
This recently came to my attention here in King County, Washington, and it is something I think deserves far more attention. If people here in Washington are not aware that they need to register for local emergency notifications, I am sure the same thing is happening in communities across the country.
Many people assume that because they have a cellphone, emergency officials can automatically reach them with every important warning. That is not necessarily true.
Wireless Emergency Alerts and Local Alerts Are Different
Most newer cellphones can receive Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA). These are the loud alerts you may receive for severe weather, AMBER Alerts, evacuation warnings, or other major emergencies.
But your county, city, or local emergency management agency may also operate an opt-in emergency notification system.
That means you have to sign up.
Washington Emergency Management explains that local opt-in alerts can provide information that you might not otherwise receive, including notifications about floods, wildfires, evacuations, storms, road closures, and other local emergencies. FEMA likewise encourages residents to register for text or email alerts offered by their local emergency management agencies.
Think about what you would want to know if something were happening near:
- Your home
- Your workplace
- Your children's school
- An elderly parent's home
- A family member's neighborhood
- A property you own somewhere else
Many local systems allow you to register more than one address, so you can receive geographically targeted information even when you are not physically at that location.
Washington Residents: Check Your County
Here are several of the primary emergency alert systems serving Western Washington, along with Spokane and the Tri-Cities area.
King County — ALERT King County
ALERT King County is the county's regional emergency alert and notification service. It is free, and residents can register physical addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. The system can deliver emergency information targeted to areas you identify. It also offers alerts in multiple languages.
Seattle residents: King County also recommends that people within Seattle consider registering for both ALERT King County and AlertSeattle, since the two systems serve different purposes and some information may not appear in both.
Pierce County — PCALERT
Pierce County ALERT, or PCALERT, allows residents to receive emergency information from fire, law enforcement, and other agencies. You can register multiple locations, such as your home, workplace, or child's school, and receive alerts by text, phone, or email.
Sign up for Pierce County ALERT
Snohomish County — SnoCoAlerts
SnoCoAlerts is Snohomish County's early-warning and emergency notification system. It uses your address and ZIP code to provide alerts relevant to the area where you live and allows you to select the types of notifications you want to receive.
Snohomish County Public Alert Resources
Kitsap County — KitsapALERT
KitsapALERT is Kitsap County's Community Warning System. Kitsap County Emergency Management encourages everyone who lives or works in the county to register. Critical safety messages can be delivered through text, telephone, or email.
Thurston County — TC Alert
Thurston Community Alert, or TC Alert, provides emergency notifications concerning hazardous conditions such as evacuations, severe weather, boil-water notices, and other public-safety emergencies. Residents can choose phone, email, wireless-device notifications, or multiple methods.
Thurston County Emergency Alerts
Clark County — Clark Public Alerts
In Clark County, the Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency (CRESA) operates Clark Public Alerts. These are address-based notifications, meaning emergency officials can identify an affected geographic area and send alerts to registered contacts within it.
Residents may register multiple addresses and receive notifications by text, telephone, or email.
Sign up for Clark Public Alerts
Whatcom County — AlertSense
Whatcom County encourages residents to register for its community warning system, Konexus AlertSense, as part of preparing for hazards including floods, wildfires, tsunamis, volcanic hazards, severe weather, and other emergencies.
Whatcom County Emergency Preparedness and Alerts
Skagit County — CodeRED
Skagit County uses CodeRED for emergency notifications. County emergency management officials encourage residents to register so they can receive important information before and during emergencies.
Skagit County Emergency Management
Eastern Washington
Spokane County — ALERT Spokane
Spokane County operates ALERT Spokane for public alerts and warnings.
There is an especially important update for Spokane County residents: the county launched a new ALERT Spokane system in April 2026 and instructed residents who had previously registered to register again. The current system is powered by Regroup and can provide text messages, emails, app notifications, voice calls, and geographically targeted emergency information.
Tri-Cities — Benton and Franklin Counties
Because the Tri-Cities crosses county lines, residents should know which county they live or work in and register with the appropriate emergency management agency.
Benton County, including much of Kennewick and Richland, uses CodeRED for emergency notifications. Residents can select text messages, emails, telephone calls, or multiple contact methods.
Benton County Emergency Management CodeRED
Franklin County, including Pasco, also uses CodeRED to notify residents about natural disasters, wildfires, evacuations, and other significant events. Notifications can be delivered by text, email, or telephone.
Franklin County Emergency Management CodeRED
What About the Rest of Washington?
Washington State Emergency Management maintains a statewide directory of local opt-in emergency alert systems covering counties throughout Washington.
If your county is not listed above—including Island, Clallam, Jefferson, Mason, Lewis, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Pacific, Wahkiakum, or other Washington counties—you can use the state's directory to locate your local system.
Washington Emergency Management — Local Emergency Alert Directory
Live Somewhere Else in the United States?
This advice is not limited to Washington.
Across the country, cities, counties, parishes, boroughs, tribal governments, and regional emergency management agencies operate their own emergency notification systems.
FEMA recommends checking with your local emergency management or public-safety office to determine what opt-in alerts are available where you live. One of the easiest ways to find your system is to search:
"[Your county or city] emergency alerts"
or
"[Your county or city] emergency management notifications."
Then make sure the website belongs to your county, city, emergency management agency, sheriff, public-safety agency, or another official government source before entering your personal information.
FEMA specifically notes that local alert systems often allow subscribers to select the devices that receive notifications and, in many cases, the categories of alerts they want.
Don't Rely on Just One Warning Method
Emergency preparedness is about redundancy.
Your cellphone is an important tool, but during a disaster there can be power outages, damaged cell towers, overloaded networks, internet disruptions, or simply a dead battery.
Consider having several ways to receive information:
Local emergency alerts + Wireless Emergency Alerts + NOAA Weather Radio + local radio/television + official emergency management websites and social media.
If one system fails, another may still reach you.
And while you are registering, check your phone settings to make sure Wireless Emergency Alerts are turned on.
Today's Preparedness Challenge: Take 10 Minutes
Here is your preparedness challenge for today:
Take 10 minutes and register every adult in your household for your local emergency alert system.
Then consider adding other locations that matter to you, if your system allows it—your workplace, children's school, parents' home, or another family member's address.
After that, send this article to a friend, neighbor, coworker, or family member and ask one simple question:
"Are you signed up for local emergency alerts?"
Preparedness does not always require buying equipment or spending hours developing complicated plans. Sometimes it starts with taking a few minutes to make sure the people responsible for warning you actually have a way to reach you.
That notification could arrive during a wildfire evacuation, flood, hazardous-material incident, severe storm, active public-safety emergency, or another event when minutes matter.
Sign up now—before you need the warning.
Be Ready Before the Emergency
Knowing what is happening is only one part of preparedness. Once you receive the warning, you still need the supplies and plans necessary to act on it.
LMD Disaster Survival Kits & Supply encourages every household to continue working toward being Two Weeks Ready with emergency water, food, lighting, first-aid supplies, communications equipment, emergency kits, and other essentials appropriate for the hazards where you live.
Get the warning. Have a plan. Have your supplies. Be ready to act.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Michael Cady, MSDM, NEMAA, is the owner of LMD Disaster Survival Kits and an emergency management professional with more than 30 years of experience working alongside first responders. He also has five years of federal disaster recovery experience assisting individuals, families, businesses, and communities affected by disasters.
Michael founded LMD Disaster Survival Kits in 2007 to help people become better prepared for emergencies before they occur. He holds associate and bachelor’s degrees in Homeland Security and Emergency Management, as well as a Master of Security and Disaster Management with a concentration in Climate Security from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
In his current professional role, Michael supports emergency management, workplace health, and safety initiatives for a behavioral healthcare organization with more than 500 employees.
Preparedness questions matter, reach out. LMD Disaster Survival Kits welcomes the opportunity to help individuals, families, workplaces, and communities strengthen their readiness, build confidence, and prepare for the unexpected.