Mayor Briley Announces New Service to Alert Nashville During Emergencies

4/8/2019
Thomas Mulgrew (615) 862-6461

Mayor David Briley today announced new technology that will allow Metro’s public safety agencies to directly communicate to the people of Nashville in times of emergency: the Metro Emergency Alert & Notification System (MEANS).

MEANS will be Metro’s official “call to action” mechanism – delivering safety instructions via cellphone, landline, text/SMS, or text telephone (TTY) – for localized emergencies such as flooding, public health emergencies or active shooter situations. Watch an introduction video of MEANS.

“It’s my duty as Mayor to ensure that everyone in our city feels safe,” said Mayor Briley. “MEANS will complement and enhance the existing methods of communication for our public safety agencies and will help people in Nashville when there is an emergency. I encourage everyone to sign up for it.”

“This is an important way for us to keep the community updated on incidents happening in Davidson County,” said Nashville Fire Department Chief William Swann. “This service is controlled by Metro Government and communicates directly to the public, without a middleman. Residents and visitors can feel confident that when they receive alerts, they are getting accurate information straight from a Metro public safety agency.”

Residents may sign up for this free alerting service by visiting the MEANS Portal at http://MEANS.nashville.gov. Once registered, users can choose how they want to receive communications: cellphone, landline, text/SMS, or TTY. Users can enter one or more addresses to receive location-based emergency notifications. For example, if a user adds their home and work address to their account, they will receive emergency notifications when either of these two addresses is within the boundaries of an alert’s location. If a user wishes to only receive countywide text/SMS messages, they can simply text the keyword ‘NashAlerts’ to 888-777.

Users with smartphones are also urged to download the Everbridge Mobile App from the Apple App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android). The Everbridge app brings the added security of delivering alerts to cell phones based on a user’s physical location at the time of an emergency.

“The Everbridge app provides Metro with a key alerting capability because it enables us to send safety instructions to residents who happen to be in the vicinity of an emergency in real time,” said Department of Emergency Communication’s Director Michele Donegan.

MEANS is operated by Metro public safety departments and administered by the Metro Information Technology Services Department. Neither Metro Government nor Everbridge will ever sell or use confidential MEANS registration information for any other purpose than alerts to the public.

Partners in MEANS include the Department of Emergency Communications, the Emergency Communications District Board (ECD), Nashville Fire Department, the Office of Emergency Management and Metro Nashville Police Department.