New Emergency System For Fiddlers Jamboree

The DeKalb County EMA will be using a new emergency alert system during this weekend’s Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree.

EMA Director Charles Parker said ReadyOp is a notification system that allows them to organize contact information for different groups and then communicate with people in a timely manner. Parker said they have been preparing and training with the system since they acquired it a little over a year ago.

“We’re hoping it’s a good, manageable system that we can manage, you know, all of our – the people that are working the event, and then also the craft people,” Parker said. “It’s also going to include some maps so that they’ll know where the storm shelters are at that, you know, if we do have weather coming in.”

Parker said there were issues communicating with the nearly two hundred crafters when storms arrived during last year’s jamboree.

“Before we did that with sending police and firemen around trying to let everybody know and through the speaker system around the square,” Parker said. “It’s kind of hard to hear. We’re hoping this ReadyOp system will be able to send text and/or phone calls out to at least the majority of the crafters that are, you know, registered with us and let them know any important details.”

He said the program is used regularly by several counties in the Upper Cumberland, as well as state organizations such as the Tennessee Firemen’s Association and TEMA.

Parker said they got the system right before last year’s jamboree, but did not have enough time to get it up and running before the event. He said their local 911 service already uses the ReadyOp system in their day-to-day operations.

“We would like to continually use it, you know, as there’s numerous ways this can be used,” Parker said.

Parker said there are five churches around the square that are opening themselves up to act as shelters if necessary.