MEDFORD, Ore. – With Sunday’s Fire causing stress, some people got an emergency alert in the area of that fire, but others didn’t. When a fire spreads quickly, city and county emergency managers work in concert with first responders to get a handle on each individual situation. But as we’ve obviously seen with the historic Almeda Fire, the situation can be quite chaotic.
The fire broke in the 3 o’clock hour. The first emergency alert was sent out at 5:04 p.m. But the alert was only sent to people in the evacuation zone who had previously signed up for it or who had a landline in the area. Many people with cell phones at the location, never got an alert.