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Salem, Marion and Polk emergency alerts combine services

A grass fire burning near the 4100 block of Vitae Springs Road South near Salem on Monday, Sept. 13. (Courtesy/Marion Polk Crime, Traffic and Severe Weather Alerts)

A single emergency alert system now serves residents in Salem and the mid-Willamette Valley, combining previously separate alerts for the city and Marion and Polk counties. 

Emergency alerts provide quick updates related to severe weather, unexpected road closures, missing people, evacuations and other critical announcements.

The updated system will draw resources from the city, Marion and Polk Counties, the state and the National Weather Service.

Monday afternoon, Salem’s Emergency Community Notification System notified subscribers that their information was moved to the new Marion Polk alert system. Existing users don’t need to do anything to receive alerts unless their email or phone number has changed since they registered.

“You will continue to get critical, time-sensitive emergency notifications to the emails and phone numbers that you listed when you registered,” the email said.

Those who want to continue to have access to their accounts have to visit the service’s signup link included in their Monday alert, which will remain active for 30 days, or log in on the alert system website. New users can also create an account at the link.

Subscribers may enter up to five locations to receive alerts for, and weather alerts can be turned off manually.

-Ardeshir Tabrizian