Unexpected phone calls in the wee hours of the night aren't always appreciated. Nor is new technology.

The exception may be automated notification systems, aka "reverse 911 systems," which are now available.

It must be noted that Reverse 911 is a proper brand name for one of the systems, but they function in a similar manner. Emergency officials send out warnings to portions or all of city/county facing a threat.

Implementing regular 911 systems required placing specific addresses on rural routes once formerly identified by local landmarks. It cost plenty, as county governments scrambled to coordinate the new emergency addresses with the new equipment.

More money was put in as the technology evolved. A nominal fee is taken from the phone users' bill to pay for the service.

Regular emergency 911 systems identify an emergency's location, even if the caller cannot speak. If a person can dial those three digits, the address comes across the dispatcher's screen.

The reverse 911 systems take that a step further and allow emergency officials to warn multiple residents about a threat.

Flooding

Burleigh County has carried a reverse 911-type system for land phones since 2003.

It proved a key element to alerting residents of southern Bismarck and Burleigh County during this spring's flooding.

We can only guess how many injuries or deaths were prevented by this system particularly the early morning calls during the sudden spike of the river.

Burleigh County Emergency Manager Mary Senger said the calling system can be pinpointed to phone numbers within a certain triangle, square or a parameter of a robbery or incident. "We can put the message out on the phone lines we want," Senger said. The Bismarck-Burleigh system is maintained by Mike Dannenfelzer, manager of the Bismarck-Mandan Combined Communications Center.

Senger said the speed of the reverse 911 calls depends upon the length of the message. She said it is one of many methods to warn people, along with sirens, TV scrolls, emergency radio signals and media announcements.

"Any time you reach a niche that can't be reached, it helps," Senger said. "This is another way to reach people inside who may not have TVs or radios on."

The early morning flood calls gave south Bismarck and Burleigh County residents enough time to move to safety during the unpredictable ice jam.

Between March 23 and March 25, the Bismarck-Burleigh reverse 911 system sent out 2,928 calls to affected residents. These calls advised them of evacuations and to move property to higher ground. Some of these calls overlapped to the same phone lines as needed.

Several calls warned residents to stay away from windows while officials detonated explosives on the ice jams.

Senger said it was useful in alerting 518 Apple Creek residents March 25 to what flooding precautions to take for their rising water.

The system contacted another 845 Lincoln phone lines April 13 about Lincoln Road's pending closure.

Gladstone

Residents of Gladstone also were alerted in the dark of the night as four armed robbers - two of them dangerous prison escapees - lurked about. The reverse 911 system allowed officials to notify 325 people almost simultaneously.

Stark County Emergency Manager Brent Pringle said the timing of the calls was perfect in the Gladstone crisis. That system is capable of phoning 250 lines per minute.

Pringle said only 14 percent of the phone lines that were called answered, but the right one did.

"The farmstead resident got the reverse 911 call. We knew where the (suspects) were because just then he looked out the window and saw three of them going into his garage," Pringle said.

One can only speculate if and how the alert spared problems for the family and their neighbors. Two of the suspects were dangerous, armed felons. The system also saved authorities time in making their strategy.

"It played a very vital role. The officials did not need to go door-to-door," Pringle said. "We knew where they were."

One of the next challenges for emergency officials is to perfect a reverse 911 system which can notify all cell phones in an area. Many residents now opt to forgo land phones.

Who has it?

Cecily Fong, public information officer for the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services, said Bismarck, Grand Forks, Devils Lake, Mandan, Stanley, Cavalier, Fargo, Wahpeton, Dickinson, Jamestown, Hillsboro, Valley City, Minot and Williston all have reverse 911 capabilities. All have coverage for both city and county except Jamestown.

Fong said, theoretically, North Dakota State Radio could provide reverse 911 capabilities for any of the 22 public service answering points for which the agency provides service. This would be done by using the technology at Burleigh County/Bismarck if the proper memorandum of understanding is in place. She said each jurisdiction would have to pay a per-line charge of 5 cents, as well as any air time used.

Grateful public

Law enforcement did a fantastic job pooling efforts to keep southwestern North Dakota safe this past weekend. The reverse 911 system helped save them valuable time and manpower for the task at hand.

The Gladstone standoff could have taken days to resolve instead of hours. Its outcome in an isolated community could have been far worse without this important communication tool.

Let's hope reverse 911 systems become feasible to all entities of the state.

(Reach reporter LeAnn Eckroth at 250-8264 or leann.eckroth@;bismarcktribune.com.)