Santa Cruz County residents reminded to sign up for mobile emergency alerts through CodeRED

Would you know if your home or business needed to be evacuated? As fires spring up around the state, emergency notifications can keep a bad situation from becoming worse.

Many emergency notification systems use a reverse 911 system on landline phones, but Santa Cruz County fire officials said CodeRED can be helpful for those who do not have landline phones or who are not home when the alert is issued.

CodeRed is an opt-in system used by Santa Cruz Regional 911 dispatch personnel. By signing up, users can get reverse 911 messages sent to their cellphones or VIOP phones. Based on the location of the incident, users may get notifications about evacuations, bio-terrorism, missing person reports and severe weather in Santa Cruz and San Benito counties. Users can also get alerts for multiple addresses, such as homes, workplaces or schools.

Cellphones and VIOP phones can be registered here. You can also enroll by downloading the CodeRED app in the App Store.