AlertOC is a mass notification system used by the County of Orange and participating cities to issue government-related messages to residents and businesses. The system has the capacity to send thousands of messages within minutes via phone, e-mail and text. Only authorized officials are allowed access to the system.

Sign-up online by going to the homepage of this website

Authorized officials record a voice, e-mail or text message that is then delivered quickly to individuals in the notification system.

The primary use of the system will be to distribute messages pertaining to the health, safety or welfare of a community that is being affected by a perceived, emerging, or imminent emergency event. Residents may also choose to subscribe to non-emergency messages from participating cities or agencies.

AlertOC contains residential and commercial landline phone numbers for most of Orange County’s geographic population. In accordance with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), landline numbers are acquired from AT&T and Frontier’s 911 telephone database. The use of the 911 database is regulated by the CPUC code sections 2872 and 2891.1. The code states that information contained in the 911 database is confidential, proprietary and shall not be disclosed or used except by authorized personnel for the purpose of emergency notifications. It is important and recommended that community members provide additional phone numbers, e-mail addresses and a text number by registering through the AlertOC web portal. Each address location can have up to three phone numbers, two e-mail addresses and one text number. VOIP Users: Please note that VOIP numbers aren’t currently provided through the E911 database. We are working with VOIP Providers to acquire this information, however, until we are able to collect it, please use the AlertOC registration portal to provide the AlertOC System with this information.

AlertOC takes citizen security and privacy concerns seriously. Policy and contract agreements have been put into practice that prohibit AlertOC contact information from being shared, sold, traded, leased or loaned to outside parties. Staff access to citizen contact information is limited and approved at many layers. Citizen provided contact information transmitted through the web-portal is sent over a secure connection.

Yes, residents whom have registered their cell phone numbers in the AlertOC system will receive messages on their cell phone. Since there are many instances when the public may not be at home to receive an emergency message phone call, public safety officials recommend that all residents with a cell phone add their number to the AlertOC database.

No. This system supplements other communication methods used by emergency responders. It does not replace them. During an emergency, County or city call-in emergency information lines will still be available. Television, radio and county/city websites will continue to broadcast important announcements, too.

If an emergency situation arises that requires a notification to be sent to multiple phone numbers, we will activate the system to contact you through the primary contact notification method. If contact is not successfully made, the system will cycle through to the next notification method until you acknowledge or confirm receipt of the message.

Yes, the system will call any phone number that has a United States (non-international) area code.

There are several varieties of call screening devices that use differing protocols for screening. In general, the system has been found to work with these devices. However, some may require pre-programming to allow the County’s or city’s telephone number to pass through. We will conduct periodic tests to assure that messages are being properly delivered to numbers in the notification database.

For busy signals, call-waiting signals or when there is not an answer, the call will be repeated several times in an attempt to reach you. If the phone is answered by a message recorder, the message will be left on the answering device. If after several attempts the call does not successfully go through, the system will stop attempting to call.

Yes, the vendor who provides the AlertOC service changed on July 5, 2016. Your previously entered contact information has been moved to the new system. If you had an account created before that date, you will need to create a new one to manage your information.

The County of Orange is the sponsor and lead entity responsible for the AlertOC program.

To change or delete the information you registered into the AlertOC System, please login to your account.

If you have additional AlertOC questions, please e-mail alertoc@ocsd.org or call 714.628.7054.