Montezuma County officials urge residents to sign up for the county’s emergency alert system, as well as providing more information on its community emergency preparedness team and the fire alert page on the county’s website.

The county emergency alert system provides updates to incidents such as road closures, missing people, severe weather, wildfires, evacuations and shelter-in-place notices.

The alerts can be tailored to specific neighborhoods and parts of the county.

Montezuma County public information officer Vicki Shaffer said while there are about 26,000 people in the county, only 2,500 people have signed up for the system.

The alert system helps get the word out to residents.

When there was a street shooting in Cortez last year, system users were alerted so that they could avoid the area.

To sign up, residents can visit the emergency alert system page on the county’s website https://member.everbridge.net/337829242601830/login.

Community Emergency Response Team still has room for residents to sign up.

“We still will be taking interest from people until we actually start the training,” Shaffer told The Journal.

As of right now, they are unsure of when training will begin, Shaffer said.

CERT is a program created with the support of the Montezuma and Dolores county Offices of Emergency Management, and trains those who join how to aid others in the community in the case of natural disaster or other emergency.

Before the first informational meeting June 13, Shaffer told The Journal that CERT aims to empower people to make their community safer and more resilient during an emergency.

Participants are taught emergency and survival skills from first responders, and learn skills such as disaster response techniques, reducing injuries and property damage, first aid and CPR.

The training is free to the public, and the emergency supplies are included.

People can sign up on the county’s website at https://montezumacounty.org/community-emergency-response-team-cert/.

Shaffer also shared that the county has a fire informational page on their website that provides information and updates on fire bans, wildfires, fire restrictions and red flag days.

“Every time they implement statewide resolution or a countywide fire ban or anything like that, all that information is in one place,” Shaffer said.

To learn more about fire bans or current fire restrictions in the county, visit the fire informational page online at https://montezumacounty.org/fire-restriction-information/.

Information regarding air quality in the county can find it on the county’s website as well.