Emergency Preparedness

A community emergency preparedness is only as good as the preparedness of its citizens.  Make emergency preparedness a priority for you and your family.  There are a number of simple actions that you and your family can take to better prepare for a potential emergency.

How Will You Get Warned? Shelter-In-Place Instructions
Pantex - General Emergency Info Evacuation Instructions

Getting Warned

OUTDOOR WARNING SYSTEM
Amarillo/Potter/Randall Office of Emergency Management currently operates over 85 outdoor warning sirens that are designed to alert people who are outdoors of a potential emergency in the community.  Outdoor Warning Sirens are NOT designed to be heard indoors.  In the event of an emergency, the Office of Emergency Management will activate the Outdoor Warning Sirens on a steady tone for 5 minutes.  When sounded, you should immediately move to shelter and listen to local radio or television stations for emergency warning information. 

The outdoor warning system is tested the last Friday of every month at 11:30 AM, weather permitting.

INDOOR WARNING SYSTEM
A key to saving lives is the ability to provide adequate and timely warning. Individuals need to insure they have the means to receive emergency warnings, know what to do for protective measures and respond accordingly. Emergency Management Officials in Amarillo/Potter/Randall have several different means of public warning at their disposal and will activate applicable warning systems when necessary. Since the best source of emergency information is local radio and television stations, you should turn on battery powered radios or televisions when warning systems are activated.

NOAA All-Hazards Radio
The Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) All-Hazards Radio broadcasts warnings, watches, forecasts, and other emergency information for ALL hazards and disasters that require immediate notification.  The radio operates on 162.550 MHz and is re-broadcasted in the local Amarillo area on 1610 AM.

More information on All-Hazard Radios can be found here.  Once you purchase your radio, program in the SAME code for the counties you would like to receive emergency information. Below are the SAME Codes for our two counties:

Potter County:    048375        Randall County:  048381      Pantex EPZ Code:  048901

Need another county?  Click HERE to find SAME codes for other Texas Counties.

NOAA All-Hazards Radio for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing: http://www.weather.gov/nwr/special_need.htm

Emergency Alert System (EAS)
EAS sends out alerts to broadcast media, cable television, radio stations, satellites, pagers, Direct Broadcast Satellite, High Definition Television, Video Dial Tone, and to devices for the needs of special populations such as the deaf and those with special language requirements.  The EAS will be activated when immediate public notification is needed due to threatening weather, technological or radiation  emergencies, chemical spills, explosions, fires, or any other disaster.

Cable Television Cut-In
When necessary, the Office of Emergency Management can interrupt programming on most channels of the cable network in order to provide viewers information about an emergency event.