By Heidi Sunderman
Staff Writer
Representatives of area businesses gathered together to learn about a new emergency notification device targeted toward the business community.
In the event of a city emergency, such as a tornado or other hazardous events, the city of Perham already has three emergency warning devices set up around the city, explained Perham Area EMS director Jim Rieber.
These sirens, formerly referred to as "tornado sirens" are useful for alerting the public in the event of a dangerous situation. However, the primary purpose they serve is to alert people that are outside to take shelter. With this current warning system in place, the people inside of many local businesses are unaware of the emergency at hand because they cannot hear the sirens.
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To combat this problem, Rieber suggested that businesses purchase an emergency alert notification device, the "Informer", made by Federal Signal Corp. This high-end radio receiver can connect to most internal building paging systems, making it possible to quickly notify all employees of an imminent emergency situation. The system is freestanding with a battery backup.
The Informer is capable of generating four separate alarm sounds which can be programmed to serve local needs. One specific tone would likely be reserved for warnings directly affecting the city of Perham.
According to Rieber, one of the primary advantages of the device is that it enables the city or the county to directly alert businesses in the case of an emergency. "In the past, the hospital had to call 26 facilities to notify them in the event of an emergency," Rieber explained. The Informer would allow for instant notification.
For businesses where the device may not be easily heard, it can be purchased with a relay system for approximately $100 more than the standard $490 price. The relay model will activate lights and strobes.
Superintendent of the Perham-Dent schools Tamara Uselman expressed her support for the emergency alert notification device after the presentation concluded. "It seems to me that we would want one of these in each school building," said Uselman. "The beauty of this is that there is no lag; everyone gets the information at the same time."
