San Rafael, CA – Marin County, it’s time for a test. Don’t worry: It’s not a pop quiz. You’ll have time to prepare.

On March 23, the County of Marin’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) will conduct a countywide test of the emergency alert system called AlertMarin. It will be the first time a test of this magnitude will take place in Marin County.

The alert will be sent at 10 AM in the form of a text, call and/or email to   those who have registered on AlertMarin.org. All who live or work in Marin County are encouraged to sign-up to receive emergency alerts ahead of the test. Those already registered are asked to verify their contact information via the AlertMarin.org portal to ensure phone, email, and primary address are up to date.

AlertMarin is the county's primary system to alert the community of an urgent need to act during an emergency incident. Notices from AlertMarin can include evacuations, shelter in place, or other instruction to take protective actions. 

“The success of our efforts during an emergency can quickly turn depending on our community's ability to receive emergency notifications. Our hope is that this test will give communities throughout Marin a greater understanding of the ways they can be alerted by the AlertMarin notification system,” said Steven Torrence, Director of the Office of Emergency Management. “Signing up and verifying you are signed up for alerts is one of the easier steps to building a resilient community. At the end of the test, members of the community will have a greater understanding of how the AlertMarin system works, and the various devices that can notify them during an incident.”

OEM, a division of the Marin County Fire Department, will activate a call center to assist with community inquiries between 9 AM and noon on test day. Prior to the test, OEM is collaborating with municipalities to encourage more enrollment. Some towns, cities, or unincorporated neighborhoods have higher AlertMarin participation than others. It only takes about 10 minutes to register online for a service that could save your life in the event of a major disaster. 

Emergency preparedness and disaster planning are critical components of all the public safety services provided by the County of Marin. It’s one of the highest priorities cited by the Marin County Board of Supervisors based upon feedback received by Marin residents. 

OEM staff provides emergency management services for all of Marin, including cities and towns and special districts. OEM coordinates emergency operations activities among local jurisdictions and develops written guidelines for emergency preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation

An emergency operations center (EOC) can be established by OEM during widespread crisis. From there, centralized emergency management can be performed by trained representatives from organizations that are assigned emergency responsibilities. The level of EOC staffing varies depending upon the severity of an emergency situation.