Free Franklin County public safety alerts available by phone, app

The community now has a new way to get free Franklin County emergency notifications – including public safety alerts and severe weather warnings – by text, email, wireless or landline call or through the mobile app called MyAlerts.

“We’ve been working on getting everyone notified of these options,” explained Franklin County EMA Director Mary Glass, who noted the system can also be used to check for alerts outside of Franklin County based on current location.

Adding an address in MyAlerts will provide geographically-targeted alerts when an emergency impacts that specific location. These emergency alerts could be related to specific hazards that require action to be taken, such as evacuation, sheltering in place, boiling water and more.

While the alerts are provided free, standard text messaging rates and other wireless carrier charges could apply.

Download the MyAlerts app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store, text “franklinalabamaalerts” without the quotation marks to 38276 or visit the public signup page at  http://franklinal.myfreealerts.com.