The Emergency Telephone Notification System (ETNS) can be used to notify the public with important information. Emergencies happen with little or no notice at any time of the day or night. With ETNS our 911 Communications Center can relay critical information to you about natural and man-made disasters. Home phone lines are already in our database. Please only register your Voice Over IP (VoIP) or your cellular phones.

Register Cell Phones

Until recently, emergency personnel would use ETNS to call land-line telephones but did not have the capability to include cellular or VoIP telephone numbers. Now, owners of VoIP or cellular phone lines can receive the same emergency message those with land-line phones receive, but only if they register.

Register with our ETNS provider, Hyper-Reach Emergency Notification. You will be required to enter your address, name, and email address. If you do not have an Email address, you can still register by way of this provided form.

Print, Complete and Send it to:

ETNS Opt-In

320 W.10th St.

Suite B1

Pueblo, CO 81003

How does ETNS work?

In the event of an emergency, Pueblo city and county officials can identify the affected area and send a message that describes the situation and recommends the protective actions residents should take. The ETNS system will automatically call out to all land-line and opt-in telephone numbers within that geographic area and deliver the recorded message once a voice is heard. If your phone line is busy, the system will attempt to redial the number three times to make contact. If an answering machine picks up the call, the emergency message will be left on the machine.

System Features

ETNS features are an excellent tool for sharing information and alerting residents in the case of an emergency situation.

• It can provide an initial warning as well as specific instructions to protect at-risk citizens. Both factors are necessary for an effective warning.
• ETNS can target specific geographic locations, warning only those people who are directly at risk.
• Calls can be made at a rate of up to 50,000 numbers per hour, providing emergency information direct from emergency services personnel to citizens in mass numbers.

Some of the many uses of the system include:

• Emergency Evacuations
• Missing Person Alerts
• Natural Disaster Alerts
• Hazardous Material Leaks
• Search and Rescue Operations
• Crime Prevention
• Wanted Person Alerts
• Neighborhood Emergency Incidents
• Special Community Notifications
• Homeland Security

System Limitations

As with any system, ETNS has its limitations. If linked to a specific address, the location of the cell phone number becomes essentially fixed to that location. This could lead to the situation of a cell phone being notified when the user is mobile and well out of the affected area. Or conversely, the situation where the user is mobile, is in the affected area, but is not notified because the fixed location of the number is in an unaffected area. Please consider this when registering cell phone information for addition to the database.

In addition, it takes 2-3 weeks once a number has been registered for it to be validated and entered into the database. If an incident occurs in your neighborhood with-in that time period it is unlikely you will receive the notification.

Pueblo's response agencies take a multifaceted approach to public information and recognize that no single application can provide warning to all residents in all situations. ETNS is an excellent enhancement to our effort to share emergency information with our citizens, but registration will not guarantee notification of any specific event. You are still encouraged to visit our websites and to stay tuned to local news channels and radio stations during a community crisis.

Call Screening Features

ETNS will not work with phone lines that have call screening features. For example, if your phone line requires an individual to identify themselves through a recorded message before the call is accepted, the system will not work. The system is designed to play the recorded message upon voice activation, such as a person saying "hello" or an answering machine recording.

Private Call Blocking

Moreover, ETNS will work even if your phone line blocks private calls. The system automatically identifies itself, allowing the phone call through.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Who should opt in?

A: All Pueblo city and county residents with wireless and VoIP subscriptions, especially those without a land-line phone. Subscribers' wireless and VoIP information will be kept in a separate database, so that if subscribers are already in the 911 land-line database their information will not be changed.

Q: Will my information be sold or distributed?

A: No. All of the information you enter will feed directly into the ETNS secure database. This information can only be accessed by system administrators and the data will never be sold or distributed to third parties.

Q: When will I receive phone calls?

A: You will receive phone calls when ETNS is activated and your address is within the geographic area chosen to receive the notification message. The ETNS system will only be activated for emergency purposes.

Q: What do I do if I move?

A: If you move after you have entered your information into the website you will need to go back into the website and re-enter your information with your new address.

Q: Can I enter my telephone number more than once at different addresses?

A: No. The last address that you enter into the website will be the only location that your telephone number is associated with. Your telephone number can only be in the database once, at one location.

Q: Do I have to enter an actual address?

A: Yes. If you enter an address that does not exist you will not be in the database and will not be contacted when the ETNS is activated.

Q: Will I be solicited in any way at the phone number that I enter?

A: No. You will only receive phone calls when the ETNS is activated and your address is within the geographic notification area chosen. The system will only be activated for emergency purposes.

Q: If I am in a location that is different than the address that I enter into the website for my wireless phone, will I still be contacted if an emergency affects the address entered?

A: Yes. No matter where you are physically located, you will only receive calls for emergencies that affect the address entered into the website. So if you are on vacation in a different state you will still receive a phone call if the address you entered is affected by an emergency.