Massachusetts Launches Phone App To Warn Of Emergencies

Massachusetts became the first state Friday to make available a smartphone app to alert the public to impending severe weather and other dangers.   WAMC’s Paul Tuthill reports

   Governor Deval Patrick  and other state officials visited the Masachusetts Emergency Management Agency  headquarters for a tour of the newly renovated emergency operations center and a demonstration of the smartphone app : Ping4Alerts!.   MEMA spokesman Peter Judge says the free app provides  targeted information on public safety and health emergencies.

   The app is available for Iphones and Android phones. A Blackberry version will be released later.  Judge said the phone app is a supplement to MEMA’s public alerting system that uses radio and TV , the 211 phone system , and social media.