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Dispatchers at the Traill County Sheriff’s office in Hillsboro, beginning Monday, will be testing the county’s emergency warning system.

The CODE RED exercise will start at noon on Monday (March 10), according to sheriff Mike Crocker.

Hillsboro and county residents are not to be alarmed if they receive a call from the Traill sheriff’s department.

Department personnel are just checking the county’s “Reverse 911” system that was installed to alert residents, either in selected areas or countywide, of an immediate threat, emergency or natural disaster. 

The state of art communications system, recently installed in the Hillsboro-based sheriff’s office, can alert literally hundreds of households in a matter of seconds. Land-based telephone users will be called when their home, farm or business is threatened by a natural disaster, such as a tornado. Or, if there is a chemical spill threatening a certain area, all households will be notified of the emergency.

Dispatchers next week will begin testing the system by calling specified areas in the county.

Telephone users with caller-ID incorporated into their phones and-or personal computer systems will be alerted that the incoming call is from the sheriff’s office.

“People shouldn’t be alarmed if they receive a call,” said sheriff Crocker.

“We’re just checking the system.”

The Code Red alert exercise will not call every phone number in the county, Crocker explained. But most areas will be called, and in those areas, only specified numbers will be contacted, according to the Traill sheriff.

Members of county fire departments, ambulance squads and law enforcement agencies can be expected to be contacted as the Reverse 911 system is thoroughly checked, Crocker informed Traill’s board of county commissioners Tuesday morning.

“We’ll be calling different areas starting next week.”

The exercise might last longer than one or two weeks, depending on when the sheriff’s dispatchers have time available.

The CODE RED number appearing on Caller Ids will be 999-911-9999.