As many people know, Texas recently faced devastating floods. Raising concerns of natural disasters across the country. Here in Montana we don’t face these natural disasters on the same scale, but it raises the question. How well would we be prepared if it did occur?
“It’s important to be informed in time to react,” says one local resident.
I ran into Sally and her pup Gus enjoying a day at the river. Sally and her furry friend have lived in the Bozeman area for about 3 years. I asked, “Have you ever been concerned about any sort of natural disaster?”
Sally replied, “I have not yet. Other than some rain storms, but I try to be aware of when the rivers are rising from snowpack”.
Sally would be right to watch the rising rivers. In June of 2022, the Yellowstone River experienced historic flooding. Sweeping away homes, roads, and animals. Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding areas are still recovering today. Folks of the Bridger foothills are also still recovering from the 2020 wildfire that burned through more than 7000 acres.
“We have things that affect people constantly. Here and around the entire state. We’re far from immune,” explains Patrick Lonergan.
Lonergan would know. For 20 years, he’s served as Chief of Emergency Management & Fire for Gallatin County. Lonergan and his team are the ones responsible for notifying the community of any emergency they could face. He showed me the platform they use to send out these messages.
“We’re either preparing to send one or send one 1-2 times a month,” shares Lonergan.
WATCH: Preparedness in the Treasure State: A Look at Montana’s Response to Natural Disasters
Montana experiences natural disasters, including flooding, wildfires, to severe weather. But the emergency notifications being sent out are not always weather-related.
Two emergency notifications were almost sent out last week regarding lost people. The last notification sent out? Around 3 weeks ago, for a barricaded subject in Belgrade. You may be wondering why you didn’t get a notification.
“We’re very focused on not over alerting and making it appropriate and timely to those who actually need the information. We want people to know when they get a message from us. It applies to them,” says Lonergan.
Lonergan says it’s vital to be able to inform people quickly and efficiently. But they need the public's help to do that...
“Mass notification is not a simple thing. What makes it challenging is that there’s no single one-stop tool that works everywhere and works well for everybody.”
For ways you can help Lonergan and his team? You can register in your community notification system here: https://www.readygallatin.com/public-warning/community-notification-system/
Download their Everbridge app: https://www.everbridge.com/platform/applications/
Most important? Ensure phone’s emergency alerts are on by going to your setting/notifications / scroll to the bottom / and make sure emergency alerts are on.
Because for folks like Sally?
“Depending on what the notification was regarding, it’s important to get to a safer place and to know in advance to make preparations”.
