Sugarloaf Township used its new emergency telephone system for the first time to notify some Dupo residents about a boil order Thursday.
The boil order remained in effect Thursday for Prairie Du Pont Water District residents who live in the area of Triple Lakes Road from Mullins Creek Road to Arnold Drive after a fire hydrant was damaged in the bluff area. The order is expected to be lifted by Monday after water quality tests are completed.
The incident allowed officials to test the effectiveness of CodeRed, an emergency notification system that contacts registered households regarding incidents such as severe weather, missing children and road closures.
"After the accident this morning, I went back to the office and had our secretary call it in to Code Red," Sugarloaf Township Supervisor Mike Sullivan said. "Our secretary lives in the area where the boil order was needed, and before she hung up the telephone, she was getting a call about the boil order on her cell phone."
More than 1,700 residents have signed up for the free service since it was activated this month, East Carondelet Mayor Herb Simmons said. Officials are hoping that all 3,500 households in the area will sign up.
"The CodeRed system is only as good as the telephone database supporting it," Simmons said. "If your phone number is not in the database, you will not be called."
Residents in the following areas are eligible for the service: East Carondelet, Dupo, Dupo Fire Protection District, Prairie Du Pont Fire District, Prairie Du Pont Levee District, Prairie Du Pont Water District and the Sugarloaf Township Board, including unincorporated Sugarloaf Township and part of Centreville Township.
For telephones with Caller ID, the words "Code Red" may show up. The phone number 866-419-5000 indicates an emergency alert and the number 800-566-9780 is for emergency weather warnings. If residents miss a call, they can dial the aforementioned numbers to receive the message last sent.
The warning system costs $11,250 per year for areas with less than 10,000 residents and is capable of dialing 1,200 phone calls per minute in an emergency situation, Simmons said.
Dupo Mayor Ron Dell said the warning system was an economical option for the area.
"The demonstrations that they did showed us that it was going to be very effective," Dell said. "It's so flexible, we can use it for so many different things."
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