LAKE COUNTY >> Lake Area Rotary Club Association treasurer Russ Cremer presented Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin and Lake County Fire Protection District Chief Willie Sapeta a check for $3,000 for the Lake County Office of Emergency Services. This money is earmarked to pay for Lake County Office of Emergency Services’ (EOS) contract with an approved commercial software provider to access the Integrated Public Alert Warning System, otherwise known as IPAWS.
During an emergency alert and warning, officials need to provide the public with life-saving information quickly. IPAWS is a modernization and integration of the nation’s alert and warning infrastructure and will save time when time matters most, protecting life and property. Federal, state, territorial, tribal and local alerting authorities can use IPAWS and integrate local systems that use Common Alerting Protocol standards with the IPAWS infrastructure.
IPAWS provides public safety officials with an effective way to alert and warn the public about serious emergencies using the Emergency Alert System, Wireless Emergency Alerts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Weather Radio, and other public alerting systems from a single interface.
This service will complement the sheriff’s office and OES existing NIXLE and City Watch system to be able to quickly notify people in the event of an emergency. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and OES expects to have the system ready for use by March. Key personnel have already completed the FEMA required training to participate in this program.
“I am grateful for this generous contribution from members of our community,” Martin said. “It will allow us to improve the level of service provided by first responders to residents and visitors in Lake County during times of emergency. My deepest gratitude goes out to the Lake Area Rotary Club Association for making this possible. On behalf of a grateful community I thank them.”
Martin also serves as the county’s emergency services director.
The events of the record breaking 2015 fire season in Lake County generated a great deal of community support, collaboration and teamwork. Countless individuals, organizations, friends, strangers and neighbors came together in response to these disasters. One such group was a conglomerate of Rotary, International organizations based in Lake County.
The Lake Area Rotary Club Association was formed to distribute donations that had been gathered from the various Rotary clubs based in Lake County.
