The Lake Area Rotary Club Association donates $3,000.00 for the Integrated Public Alert Warning System.

Public Information Release
January 22, 2016
Lieutenant Steve Brooks, Public Information Officer


The tragedies of the record breaking 2015 fire season in Lake County generated a great deal of community support, collaboration, and teamwork. Countless individuals, organizations, friends, strangers, and neighbors came together in response to these disasters. One such group was a conglomerate of Rotary, International organizations based right here in Lake County. The Lake Area Rotary Club Association (LARCA) was formed to distribute donations that had been gathered from the various Rotary clubs based in Lake County. 

On Friday, January 15, LARCA Treasurer Russ Cremer presented Lake County Sheriff/Emergency Services Director Brian Martin and Lake County Fire Protection District Chief Willie Sapeta a check for $3000.00 for the Lake County Office of Emergency Services. This money is earmarked to pay for Lake County OES’ contract with an approved commercial software provider to access the Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS). 

During an emergency alert and warning, officials need to provide the public with life-saving information quickly. IPAWS is a modernization and integration of the nation’s alert and warning infrastructure and will save time when time matters most, protecting life and property. Federal, State, territorial, tribal and local alerting authorities can use IPAWS and integrate local systems that use Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) standards with the IPAWS infrastructure. IPAWS provides public safety officials with an effective way to alert and warn the public about serious emergencies using the Emergency Alert System (EAS), Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio, and other public alerting systems from a single interface. 

This service will complement the Sheriff's Office and OES existing NIXLE and City Watch reverse 911 system to be able to quickly notify people in the event of an emergency. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Office of Emergency Services expects to have the system ready for use by March. Key personnel have already completed the FEMA required training to participate in this program. 

Sheriff Martin said “I am grateful for this generous contribution from members of our community. It will allow us to improve the level of service provided by first responders to residents and visitors in Lake County during times of emergency. My deepest gratitude goes out to the Lake Area Rotary Club Association for making this possible. On behalf of a grateful community I thank them.”