Grant allows Dayton to buy emergency call system

Dayton Business Journal - 5:13 PM EDT Tuesday

The city of Dayton Fire Department received a $34,000 grant to purchase a system that notifies residents and businesses of emergencies.

The two-year contract with Ormond Beach, Fla.-based Emergency Communications Network Inc. provides the city with the CodeRED system, which makes up to 60,000 phone calls per hour, notifying call recipients of natural or man-made disasters.

Other local communities including Centerville, Huber Heights and Moraine already use the system.

Residents whose phone numbers are listed in the white pages will be included in the system, but businesses and non-listed numbers must be registered to receive the emergency calls.

"CodeRED gives those who want to be included an easy and secure method for doing so," said Larry Collins, fire chief, in a press release issued late Tuesday.

The system can call cell phones but cannot contact pagers. It will leave messages in voice mailboxes and on answering machines, and if a message service is not reached, it will try the phone number three times and then a back-up number.

Citizens automatically registered may opt out of the system.

E-mail dayton@bizjournals.com. Call 222-6900.