King George County (Virginia) recently rolled out the King George Alert System (KGAlert), powered by the Roam Secure Alert Network (RSAN), for emergency communication. KGAlert is an emergency communication and Terrorism Early Warning system specifically designed to enable first-responders, government agencies, private industry officials and the public to communicate reliably.

Emergency Management officials will use KGAlert to reach thousands of county employees and citizens spread across this rural Virginia area on all mobile devices (cell phones, pagers, Blackberries, etc.) and e-mail in seconds in the event of emergency. Officials will communicate important emergency information, such as severe weather warnings and watches, changes to the federal terror threat level, and other important information during a crisis, power outage, or major emergency. King George County purchased the system from Roam Secure using Federal Homeland Security grant funds awarded to King George County in fall 2003.

KGAlert is powered by the Roam Secure Alert Network, which connects King George County to the other local, state and federal governments currently part of the Roam Secure Alert Network (RSAN). RSAN is widely deployed across Northern Virginia, the Metro DC region, Philadelphia and beyond.

Wendy Shepherd, Emergency Management  Coordinator, said "We saw how other jurisdictions were using the system during recent emergencies and realized it would be a valuable tool for King George County. With the help of Homeland Security Grant funding we were able to purchase and deploy the system quickly. Rural Counties like King George need to be prepared for all-hazards incidents, and KGAlert will help improve our communication capabilities."

King George County is a historically rich County located a few hours south of Washington, DC. It is home to more than 18,000 residents, numerous small businesses and a major military facility. Learn more at http://www.king-george.va.us.

The Roam Secure Alert Network is an interoperable, text-based, two-way emergency communication solution actively used by cities, counties, states and Federal Government agencies to communicate with first responders, employees, businesses and citizens during all-hazards incidents.