I wasn't sure where to put this, but this came up in conversation today and it's both (a) not well-known and (b) potentially life-saving. I'm putting it here as a challenge to y'all to do some very easy and sensible disaster prep. ;)
This is US-specific information but folks elsewhere should check out what's going on with in their jurisdictions.
Emergency services will put out a reverse 911 in certain circumstances where public safety may be at risk. Those circumstances include wildfires. We're in/entering the wildfire season in many parts of the U.S., and reverse 911 calls are going to save people's lives in the next few months (they did in both the Santa Rosa and Paradise fires, for example, when people were woken up by the calls and only got out because of them). However, reverse 911 calls typically only go out to landlines and to registered cell phones. Cell phones are not automatically registered just because they have a local area code; the phone needs to be actively input into the database of whatever company the emergency services uses to do reverse 911s.
That means that if you don't register your cell, you may not get that life-saving call. So please, please register your cell if you live in an area with wildfires, other sudden and deadly natural disasters, or even just a ton of police activity that's good to know about!
If you Google something like "My County Name emergency services reverse 911," you should find information on how to register your cell phone. If your area is like mine, you'll be able to do it all online, and even download an app. It took me less than fifteen minutes to register my phone.
Keep yourselves safe n happy, Mustachians!
