Test Of Pocahontas CodeRED Notification System Has Limited Success

Marlinton, WV – A county wide test of the CodeRED emergency notification system had limited success on Thursday, November 4th. The system was supposed to make over 4500 phone calls, but in actuality, only completed 886 calls, according to Pocahontas County Emegency Services Director Melvin Martin.

Martin says the local phone lines were so overwhelmed that they had to slow the rate at which the calls were made. The system is designed to handle up to 2000 calls per minute, but was slowed down considerably to 250 calls per minute during Thursdays test.

Martin says they will take the information learned from this test to tweak the system and weed out any bad data discovered during the test. He urges those who have not signed up with the program to do so as soon as possible.

A link to the CodeRED system can be found at www.alleghenymountainradio.org, as well as the websites for the Pocahontas Times, the Pocahontas County Commission and the Town of Marlinton. If you don’t access to a computer, you can call the Pocahontas Emergency Services office at 304-799-3985 and someone will assist you in entering your information.