Compiled by John Gaines, CRRL Staff
It is very useful to know how our area alert systems work—and how to sign up for them. Receiving alerts will allow you to be aware of emergency situations and make necessary preparations. Central Rappahannock Regional Library, among many organizations, uses these alert systems for certain types of emergency closings.
Each of the localities in the Rappahannock area has a website with a form for signing up for emergency alerts. Depending on the location of your home, commute, or workplace, you may find it useful to sign up for alerts for more than one.
The City of Fredericksburg
To sign up for the City of Fredericksburg’s alerts, go to this page., opens a new window
Note that the Everbridge Alert System requires a secure password. You’ll need to create a password with 8 characters or more, including at least one letter and one number. Also, you’ll need to provide a contact point—a valid email address, text message number, or landline phone—to create an account. You can provide multiple contact points, which will allow you to be notified both at work as well as at home.
Fredericksburg provides both an online sign-up for its alert system and a YouTube video, opens a new window that explains how the Everbridge System works. An explanation of how to sign up begins at the 4:50 mark.
Spotsylvania County
Spotsylvania County also uses the Everbridge system. The sign-up for Spotsylvania County alerts can be found here, opens a new window.
Spotsylvania has only two options for contact information: “Email Address” and “Primary SMS.” Otherwise, the sign-up form is identical to Stafford’s and Fredericksburg’s.
Note that even though Stafford, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, and Stafford all use Everbridge for their alert systems, the alerts are managed separately by each county rather than being run centrally by the company itself.
Spotsylvania does not have a help video of its own, but since it uses the same system as Fredericksburg, the advice from the Fredericksburg video, opens a new window can also help you.
Stafford County
Stafford County also uses Everbridge software.
You can begin the sign-up procedure for Stafford County alerts here, opens a new window.
The main difference is in this form’s options for contact. Instead of “Text Message” and “Landline Phone,” Stafford has these options listed as “TEXT#1” and “Voice to Mobile #1.”
Stafford’s and Fredericksburg’s systems are otherwise very similar, and the Fredericksburg help video will give general information. The Stafford portal does have an additional page, opens a new window that explains how Everbridge contacts subscribers by voice and text message in the event of emergencies.
Westmoreland County
Unlike the other localities, Westmoreland County does not use Everbridge for its alert system. Instead, Westmoreland County uses Smart 911, which is a different vendor.
The sign-up form is located here, opens a new window.
Westmoreland provides a brief explanation of Smart 911 and what it is used for here, opens a new window.
When you create your Smart 911 password, you’ll need at least one lower case letter, at least one upper case letter, a number, and a special character or symbol.
Unlike Everbridge, only one contact number entry is allowed for Smart 911. You can choose between Mobile (a cellphone number) and Other (which includes landlines, cable, and VoIP phones, opens a new window.
After getting through the initial sign-up page, you will enter your address. You can select between a home or work address and include multiple addresses at a later step.
Then you will be taken to a separate page to finish your enrollment, where you can select which formats you’d like for emergency notifications: text, voice, and email.
Although Westmoreland County does not provide its own video instructions, this guide, opens a new window from another county that uses Smart 911 provides a good explanation of how the sign-up process works.
