What the Padden Parkway Hazmat Incident Teaches About Emergency Alerts

A recent crash on NE Padden Parkway shows how local emergency alerts are deployed during an emergency.

A pickup rolled over near NE 94th Avenue and came to rest on its side in the eastbound lanes and container of muriatic acid spilled across the roadway. The spilled acid created a visible vapor cloud that drifted southwest.

Responders moved quickly. Firefighters used protective gear, a hazmat team worked to contain and neutralize the spill, air monitoring was started, and roads were closed to keep people away from the hazard. 

A shelter-in-place alert was sent to people near the scene while crews worked to make the area safe. But that alert did not need to go to everyone in Clark County—it only needed to reach the people close enough to the hazard to be affected.

Get Official Instructions for Your Area

Clark Public Alerts is the primary system CRESA Emergency Management uses to share emergency information with the public during local incidents. It is sometimes called “reverse 911.”

These alerts can give life-safety instructions such as:

• Stay indoors
• Evacuate now
• Avoid the area
• Watch for updates
• Follow instructions from emergency responders

CRESA uses several warning tools because no single alert system works in every situation. Clark Public Alerts is the most direct way to receive local emergency information tied to addresses that matter to you.

Know Why Some People Get an Alert and Others Do Not

During an emergency, alerting staff draw a boundary on a map around the area that may be affected. The system then sends the message to contacts tied to addresses inside that boundary.

In a hazardous materials incident, wildfire, police activity, or evacuation, the danger may affect one neighborhood, one road corridor, or a small number of blocks. Sending the same urgent instructions to the whole county could cause confusion and make it harder for people closest to the emergency to know what to do.

A targeted alert is not meant to hide information. It is meant to get the right instructions to the people who need them most.

Make Sure CRESA Can Reach You

Clark Public Alerts can use available contact information already connected to local addresses. That means some people may receive alerts even if they have not created an account.

But you should not rely on that alone.

When you sign up or update your information, you can make sure the system has the best way to reach you. You can add your current phone numbers and email addresses, choose how you want to be contacted, and connect alerts to more than one location.

This is the best way to help make sure you receive alerts when, where, and how you want them.

Choose How You Want to Be Contacted

When you create or update your Clark Public Alerts account, you can choose your preferred contact methods:

• Text message
• Phone call
• Email

You can also add more than one address, such as:

• Home
• Work
• A child’s school
• A family member’s home
• A rental property
• Another place you care about

This matters because emergencies do not only happen where you sleep. You may want to know about an evacuation near your workplace, a shelter-in-place alert near your child’s school, or a hazard near an older family member’s home.

Save These Numbers Before an Emergency

Emergency alerts can look unfamiliar when they arrive. Save these numbers in your phone under Clark Public Alerts so you recognize them.

Most emergency alert phone calls will come from (360) 732-8912. During a large-scale event, calls may come from (360) 499-0965. Text messages will come from short code 88911.

Saving these now can help you recognize an official alert.

Sign Up or Update Your Information in Minutes

Go to ClarkPublicAlerts.org to sign up or update your information.

You will be directed to Everbridge, the company that provides the alert software for CRESA. That is expected. Your information is private and used to deliver emergency alerts.

Take a few minutes to:

• Add your current phone number
• Add your email address
• Choose text, phone, email, or all three
• Add the addresses that matter to you
• Review your information when you move, change jobs, or change phone numbers

Sign Up for Alerts Today

Register or update your information at ClarkPublicAlerts.org.

Add the places that matter to you. Choose how you want to be contacted. Save the phone numbers in your phone.

A few minutes now can help you get official instructions when an emergency is near your home, workplace, school, or family.