Marshall County to begin using Hyper-Reach

Telephone-based mass notification systems are used by thousands of public safety agencies across the US to warn citizens about local emergencies, hazards, and other threats. Now, Marshall County Kentucky announces they have selected to help bring this same life-saving capability to the area. 

Hyper-Reach is a state-of-the-art mass emergency notification system designed specifically for public safety. The county expects to have the service fully operational by the end of June, 2025.

The new emergency alert system will provide rapid notification of hazardous and urgent situations using a mix of telephone calls, text and email messages, and even TTY/TDD service for the hearing impaired. The system sends thousands of these messages to geographically targeted households in seconds, and can simultaneously deliver them to an even broader audience via social media, as well as sending broadcast messages to most current mobile telephones (made since 2011) in an affected area by providing access to FEMA’s Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system.  

“Our job is to protect the citizens of Marshall County Kentucky as effectively and cost-efficiently as possible,” said Curt Curtner, Emergency Management Director of Marshall County. “We reviewed all the major vendors for emergency notification service, and Hyper-Reach gave us everything we needed at an unbelievable price.  We’re excited about this new capability.”

The County plans to use the service primarily for alerts about weather and environmental hazards, criminal activity, and missing persons. Landline phones are automatically enrolled for Community alerts, but Weather alerts to landline phones and Community and Weather alerts to VoIP phones, mobile phones, and email addresses are only included when people enroll.  

Residents and people who work in Marshall County are encouraged to enroll now (using a county address) either by calling or texting “Alert” to 270-387-1397 or by going to the website:  http://hyper-reach.com/kymarshallsignup.html

Residents can get emergency alerts via their Alexa-enabled smart speakers just by saying “Alexa, enable Hyper-Reach” and following the Alexa-provided instructions. With more than 50 million US households using Alexa devices, there are hundreds of County residents with Alexa units. 

Residents can also download the Hyper-Reach Anywhere app on their smartphones.  Hyper-Reach Anywhere is a free smartphone app that allows individual residents to manage and monitor the alerts they receive, both for their home, office, and other addresses they care about, such as those of elderly relatives or friends.