Residents Urged to Sign Up for Emergency Alerts
Posted on July 08, 2025
With the possibility of an intense wildfire season looming this summer, the Missoula County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) reminds residents to sign up for emergency notifications to ensure they receive timely information about potential evacuation warnings and orders. OEM encourages all residents to sign up for Smart911 at smart911.com or by downloading the smartphone app.
Smart911 is a free, secure service that delivers timely, location-specific alerts to help keep residents safe during emergencies and disasters. Residents must opt in to receive alerts on their cellphones. While Smart911 emergency alerts are automatically delivered to landlines, local emergency services cannot send these alerts to mobile devices without permission. Emergency officials use many methods to share information during an emergency, including traditional and social media, but emergency alerts are the quickest, most efficient way they can deliver information about possible evacuations directly to those impacted.
“People may erroneously believe that because they get things like Amber Alerts sent to their cellphones, they will automatically get alerts about evacuations or other emergency info,” OEM Director Adriane Beck said. “Those alerts fall under the federal Wireless Emergency Alert system, which Missoula County OEM can initiate, but only under extreme circumstances, when the impacts of a hazard may only be minutes away. Signing up for Smart911 alerts is the best way you can be prepared to evacuate and stay updated during quickly evolving situations.”
Missoula County uses a two-stage evacuation process:
- Evacuation WARNING: This means current or projected hazards may require immediate evacuation. This is a good time for residents to make final preparations, like checking their "go bag," moving people who need extra help, and checking on their neighbors who may need assistance.
- Evacuation ORDER: This means current conditions present an imminent threat, danger or loss of life to people in the affected area, and residents should evacuate immediately.
While emergency officials will make every effort to first issue an evacuation warning, an evacuation order may be issued during a rapidly unfolding event with no prior notice or warning. Residents do not have to wait for an order to evacuate. Evacuating early gives more time for disaster response. In addition to issuing evacuation information, OEM uses Smart911 alerts to notify residents of immediate safety concerns specific to their neighborhood. These alerts are highly targeted, and residents will only receive them if they apply to the address registered to their account.
For example, Missoula County sent out localized alerts about water use in the South Hills a few days after the July 2024 windstorm, but only residents with South Hills addresses received them. This is typically how the County uses the app — to send targeted alerts only to areas that are directly impacted. This helps reduce alert fatigue and keeps messages relevant and actionable. To ensure they receive any location-specific alerts, residents should verify their phone number within the app or website.
Once a device is registered and location information is provided, alerts can be sent based on that location. Users should also log into their account every six months to keep their profile active. In addition to enabling emergency alerts, Smart911 also allows residents to create a safety profile with important information about their household. This profile can include details such as medical conditions, family members and pets, which can help first responders during emergencies.
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