COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — El Paso County's Emergency Management team unveiled a new public information map Tuesday to help keep families safe and accurately informed during an emergency.
The map works hand-in-hand with the Peak Alerts system, which notifies people in El Paso and Teller counties about wildfires, flooding or shelter-in-place orders.
Officials say any Peak Alert will now show up on the new map, allowing residents to see exactly where an emergency is and how close they are to it.
In a crisis, rumors and bad information can spread fast on social media. Officials say this new map is a way to cut through the noise.
"During emergencies, misinformation spreads quickly, and this map serves as an official trusted source for the Pikes Peak region," said Andrew Nothbom, Executive Director of the Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management. "This tool improves speed, accuracy and clarity during incidents. It is designed to give residents real-time verified information."
Officials are urging everyone to sign up for Peak Alerts, noting that despite a push last year, only a small portion of the region's population is currently signed up.
“Unfortunately our opt-in rates for this system are very low. Um, you do have to create an account. You're not automatically added to any database, but take that minute to sign up at peak alerts.org and create that account for you and your family because our opt-in rates hang around, I would say, low to mid 20% of our community are registered,” said Ben Bills, Public Information Officer for the El Paso Teller 911 Authority.
If you do not live in El Paso or Teller county, officials encourage you to search your city or county's name online to find and sign up for your local emergency alert system.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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