Pasadena Local Emergency Alert System Available

/‘PLEAS’, Pasadena’s newest emergency alert system, can help you avoid scenes like this scene last Friday, March 1 in Pasadena.- Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media

By Terry Miller

After last week’s 9 block Pasadena police containment area searching for a murder suspect, citizens were anxious with the heavy police presence and helicopters circling attempting to tack down the suspect who critically stabbed an apartment manager on Euclid Street. Many had to shelter in place including a local school that was locked down while officers attempted to apprehend the man.

To that end, Pasadena offers a unique system for safety notifications. In order to communicate emergency and other urgent messages to residents and community members within Pasadena, the City has implemented an emergency notification system.

The Pasadena Local Emergency Alert System, or PLEAS, uses both text and voice messages to keep residents and community members in Pasadena informed in case of emergencies that affect areas in which they live or work. With this information, residents and businesses can make arrangements to help ensure the safety of family members, employees, pets, and property in the event of fires, floods, earthquakes, or other types of disasters.

In the event of an emergency, residents and community members will receive a message with the latest information and safety instructions. PLEAS is programmed to know whether or not the message has been delivered to a person, recorded to voicemail, or was not delivered due to a telephone system error. The system will continue to attempt to deliver its message until the message is successfully delivered to a person, or until the message expires.

PLEAS helps you be a part of our community’s safety by keeping you informed.

Things you can do to help:

-If you receive a call from (626) 405-2358, please answer – this is PLEAS calling with important emergency information. Better yet, program PLEAS into your phone’s address book, so you can immediately recognize the number.

-If you get an email from PasadenaLocalAlert@cityofpasadena.net, please read it. We recommend you add it to your email address book or other email whitelist so messages from PLEAS do not get confused with spam.

-Let PLEAS know the preferred way to reach you and what information you prefer. Self-register for emergency alerts or update your contact information by clicking here. Register for Red Flag warnings if you have a traditional landline phone from AT&T or Verizon. PLEAS will probably have your home phone number, but they do not know your email or your cell phone.

All contact information registered with PLEAS is maintained in a secure manner and never sold or used except to provide emergency information or other urgent information you request.

Once you have registered with PLEAS, we also recommend you register with Los Angeles County’s counterpart, Alert LA, by going to alert.lacounty.gov. Pasadena residents and community members are encouraged to register with both systems because no technology is failure-proof.

Whether or not you receive a message from PLEAS, take any action you believe prudent to safeguard your life. While PLEAS is a great system, disasters and emergency are chaotic and unpredictable. So, you cannot rely on any one system. Use a number of sources for emergency information, such as LA County’s Alert LA and local television and radio, in addition to PLEAS. If you are directed to evacuate by emergency personnel, please follow their directions whether or not you have received a PLEAS notification.

PLEAS is intended only for the use of people who live, work or go to school within the City of Pasadena. People from other cities should contact their City and the county of Los Angeles for more information on emergency alert systems.

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