Newtown Will Utilize State Emergency Drill To Test Public Messaging, CodeRED

Newtown Emergency management officials including First Selectman Bruce Walczak and Newtown Police Department are planning to utilize this year’s statewide Governor’s Emergency Planning & Preparedness Initiative Exercise (EPPI), to test virtually every localized public emergency notification asset available to residents, the Town announced August 27.

The localized test is being conducted as part of an effort by the First Selectman Bruce Walczak to evaluate and prioritize when and how residents receive the highest priority notifications, primarily involving incidents and/or threats being handled by the Town’s police department, Emergency Management team, or other key local agencies.

During the September 1 EPPI, Newtown agencies will attempt to utilize a broad range of options to reinforce test messaging that will mirror information being disseminated in communities across the state, and among Connecticut emergency management and responder partners.

Newtown participates in this exercise annually. The communication methods will include CodeRED, News and Announcements, and messages across the Town, Economic and Community Development Department (ECD) and Police Department’s social networks.

The exercise will use a severe weather scenario affecting communities across Connecticut. The exercise may include forecast and decision-making challenges; hazardous travel conditions; flooding; power, communications, and other utility disruptions; infrastructure damage; evacuation, sheltering, and mass care needs; emergency public information, alerts and warnings.

Newtown residents and businesses should expect to receive communications leading up to and including the exercise date.

CodeRED And Other Notification Options

While some towns use the mass notification systems for everything from reminding people about voting and local road work and closures to making announcements about missing pets, Newtown generally employs its CodeRED system to notify the entire town, or one or more specific neighborhoods that might be impacted by local incidents like flooding or pinpoint storm damage.

Residents can get notified about less critical municipal information through Newtown’s News and Announcements platform, which also requires residents and others to sign up.

Those who want to be informed about larger-scale emergencies that potentially affect the entire state, are encouraged to also sign up for CT Alert messages.

The EPPI is an annual exercise initiated by the Office of the Governor and is a requirement for Newtown’s Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG).

Ahead of that, the first selectman is strongly encouraging residents and local business owners who may live out of town to register for notifications including through Newtown’s CodeRED, News and Announcements, and the state’s CT Alerts programs.

Residents may also sign up for notifications from The Newtown Bee or follow the local newspaper’s social network pages; the newspaper uses Facebook and Instagram (both @TheNewtownBee).

Review and sign up for specific local alerts by visiting newtown-ct.gov/subscribe.

For CodeRED and other notifications, register online at https://www.newtown-ct.gov/public-safety/pages/selected-resources

Readers and residents can also text Newtown to 99411 or contact Newtown Emergency Communications Director Maureen Will at 203-270-4296 for assistance.

To register for CT Alert, visit portal.ct.gov/ctalert.