County emergency manager describes ScribeTrack damage‑assessment tool and plans for Regroup notifications; sirens reserved for tornadoes
Summary
Lincoln County Emergency Management annual update outlined use of ScribeTrack for damage assessment, the county's siren policy limited to tornadoes, and a plan to implement Regroup for targeted cell‑phone alerts.
Harold Zimmerman of Lincoln County Emergency Management gave an annual briefing to the council, outlining recent emergency‑management tools and the county’s siren policy.
Zimmerman described ScribeTrack, a mobile and web app the county used after recent flooding to document road damage. He said townships used the tool to log distances of damaged roads, material needs and cost estimates; FEMA reviewers used the digital records and photos to expedite approvals and reduce the need for field inspections. “The first time we used it was last year after our flooding in Camden… and it worked quite well,” Zimmerman said.
On sirens, Zimmerman said Lincoln County reserves siren activation for tornado warnings and does not use sirens for high winds or hail. He added that sirens may become less central as residents rely on phone alerts and described the county’s plan to roll out Regroup, a mass‑notification system that can target notifications to a two‑mile radius and include cell phones for countywide or localized messages.
Zimmerman closed by offering to answer follow‑up questions and asked council members to contact him if storm damage occurs in the city so county resources can be coordinated.
