Our area spans three counties, each with its own alert system. Sign up for all that apply to your location — they’re free and can give you critical early warning.
Important: County alerts are not fully reliable. In large-scale events, messages can be delayed or sent to the wrong area. Always supplement alerts by monitoring local mailing lists.
San Mateo County: SMC Alert
SMC Alert is used by the San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services (OES) to immediately contact you during urgent or emergency situations via text messages, push notifications, and email. It is highly tunable — you choose which neighborhoods and what types of events to receive alerts for.
Sign up at https://cmo.smcgov.org/smc-alert.
If you have completed CERT training in San Mateo County and have been sworn in as a Disaster Service Worker (DSW), you may also be activated during emergencies through SMC Alert. The South Coast CERT groups uses SMC Alert for activations.
Santa Clara County: Alert SCC
AlertSCC is the alert system for Santa Clara County, similar to the San Mateo system.
Sign up at www.sccgov.org/sites/alertscc.
Santa Cruz County: CruzAware
CruzAware is the emergency and non-emergency alert and warning system for the residents of Santa Cruz County.
Sign up at https://cruzaware.genasys.com/portal/en.
FireDispatch.com
FireDispatch.com publishes live fire department emergencies in real-time — unedited and long before they become news. It combines streaming audio, digital images, and dynamic mapping to put you on scene with the firefighters. Live dispatch is available for all of San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties.