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Pitkin Alert To See Upgrades

www.pitkinalert.org

Pitkin County’s emergency alert system is getting an upgrade.

 

Pitkin Alert is the system used by county emergency personnel to communicate urgent messages; it is now being updated to include optional categories, like storm alerts directly from the National Weather Service.

Dispatch director Brett Loeb said the system’s importance became especially clear during the Lake Christine Fire.

“When we asked people to evacuate, they did just that and everybody really responded well,” he said.

Subscriptions to the service nearly doubled in July; about 10,000 people now receive emergency alerts.

Loeb said another new feature will allow the county to send messages to those who opt-in during special events. This will be available for the first time during the Labor Day Jazz Aspen Snowmass concerts.

All current subscribers will need to update their information before Oct. 1, when the county will no longer send messages through the old system.

 

Aspen native Elizabeth Stewart-Severy is excited to be making a return to both the Red Brick, where she attended kindergarten, and the field of journalism. She has spent her entire life playing in the mountains and rivers around Aspen, and is thrilled to be reporting about all things environmental in this special place. She attended the University of Colorado with a Boettcher Scholarship, and graduated as the top student from the School of Journalism in 2006. Her lifelong love of hockey lead to a stint working for the Colorado Avalanche, and she still plays in local leagues and coaches the Aspen Junior Hockey U-19 girls.