Get Emergency Alerts

Don’t wait until you see smoke! Prepare yourself to be alerted in advance.

To help ensure you receive emergency notifications and not rely on a single source, Riverside County specifically recommends that residents register for Alert RivCo and download the Genasys Protect app. Temecula separately offers Temecula ALERT and WEA, while Watch Duty is an additional source of situational awareness:

During an emergency, remember to check the helpful apps you’ve downloaded to your phone: Smart911, Genasys Protect, and Watch Duty.

Be sure to keep these apps updated and activated for emergency use. The services sometimes update regularly so make sure your information is current. For example, Genasys Protect has made some recent updates that enable you to add your address for specific location alerts.

How to register for or download the above alert methods

As you set up these alerts, it’s important to keep a simple record showing when you registered for Alert RivCo and Temecula ALERT and when you installed and configured Genasys Protect and Watch Duty. Include your respective usernames and passwords with your record.

The reason is that if you later forget whether you registered or not, each system is maintained separately. No single dashboard shows every alert method you have set up. See the section How to verify your registrations below if you need to verify your status.

Review your contact information, saved locations, and notification settings periodically—and whenever you change your phone number, email address, phone, or home address.

These systems are sometimes updated, so it’s a good idea to log in every 6 months or so to make sure to update your information as they offer more options.

Register for Alert RivCo

Visit Rivcoready.org/alert-rivco.

Follow the instructions to register with your phone number and/or email. You will receive important alerts depending on the information you provide. Including more than one contact method improves your chances of receiving an alert if one method is unavailable.

Traditional landline numbers associated with Riverside County addresses are entered automatically, including unlisted landlines. Mobile phones and internet-based or VoIP phone numbers are not enrolled automatically and must be registered by the user.

Download the GenasysProtect app:

Genasys Protect is Riverside County’s free zone-based emergency-information app. It provides alerts and safety instructions from authorized public-safety officials, displays evacuation zones and current evacuation status, and can show shelters and other emergency resources.

After downloading the app, allow notifications, add your home address and any other important locations, and consider allowing location access so the app can provide relevant information while you are away from home. Alerts are based on areas and evacuation zones rather than publicly displaying your precise address.

Temecula Alert Notifications1

Visit https://www.smart911.com/smart911/ref/reg.action?pa=temeculaca to receive important emergency information and other important community news by signing up for Temecula’s Emergency ALERT Program.

This system enables Temecula to provide you with critical information quickly in a variety of situations, such as severe weather, unexpected road closures, missing persons, and evacuations of buildings or neighborhoods.

You will receive time-sensitive messages wherever you specify, such as your home, mobile or business phones, email address, text messages and more.

See the Check Temecula Alert section under “How to verify your registrations” for more specific information about what you can register for through Temecula ALERT.

NOTE: Temecula ALERT uses the Smart911 platform. A Smart 911 Safety Profile is not the same as registering to receive Temecula ALERT messages. It is a free, secure digital safety profile that automatically displays your vital household details to 911 dispatchers and first responders the moment you call emergency services. It bridges the gap in communication during emergencies, especially when calling from mobile phones where location and background data can be limited. You can also download the mobile Smart911 app to have your profile at your fingertips.

Optional: Create your Smart 911 Safety Profile

When you log in to the Smart 911 system used by Temecula ALERT, you may also have the option to create or update a Smart 911 Safety Profile. This optional profile can provide participating 911 dispatchers and first responders with information you choose to enter, such as household members, medical conditions, disabilities, pets, vehicles, and emergency contacts.

Check your sharing preferences carefully. One setting may allow your profile to appear when you contact a participating 911 center; another may allow participating emergency-management officials to use selected information when preparing for or responding to a large-scale emergency.

Smart911 states that users must log in at least once every six months to keep the Safety Profile active and available to participating 911 centers. This six-month requirement concerns the Safety Profile. This is not required to maintain every emergency-alert subscription.

1 Note: Although our GOH Firewise Community is located in unincorporated Riverside County, residents may also register for the City of Temecula’s emergency notification system. Because many of us live, work, shop, and travel in and around Temecula, receiving alerts from both systems can provide additional situational awareness during emergencies.

Wireless emergency alerts (WEA)

Wireless emergency alerts are urgent, location-based messages sent by authorized government agencies to compatible mobile phones. No app, account, or advance registration is required. If your phone is connected to a cell tower serving an affected area, you may receive an alert with a distinctive sound and vibration—even while traveling away from home.

WEA messages can include evacuation instructions, imminent threats, extreme weather warnings, public-safety emergencies, AMBER Alerts, and national emergency messages. The City of Temecula is an authorized WEA sender, and may use the system during a significant event or disaster.

You do not have to sign up for this system, however, you can check your phone to make sure Emergency Alerts and Public Safety Alerts are turned on. Google “how to verify WEA is set up on my iPhone/Android phone.

For further information about Temecula’s offerings, visit https://temeculaca.gov/170/Temecula-Alert

Download the Watch Duty app

Watch Duty has become very popular to help residents nationwide to follow detailed information about local wildfires, flooding, prescribed burns, evacuation notices, shelters, fire perimeters, and other emergency conditions.

Its team of active and retired firefighters, dispatchers, first responders, and reporters monitors official announcements, emergency radio traffic, verified reports, cameras, satellite information, and other public data. Human reporters verify and publish updates to help users understand what is happening as an incident develops.

Watch Duty’s essential safety information is available free of charge. An optional paid membership (at the time of this writing, a nominal annual donation) adds features such as live firefighting-aircraft tracking and additional saved locations and alerts. This is especially helpful when a fire is nearby.

Watch Duty is an excellent source of situational awareness, but it should be used in addition to—not instead of—official Alert RivCo, Genasys Protect, WEA messages, and instructions from public-safety authorities.

How to Verify Registrants

Not sure which alerts you already receive?

Because these alert systems are maintained separately, there is no single place to check them all. Log in to Alert RivCo and Temecula ALERT to review your accounts. Open Genasys Protect and Watch Duty to confirm your saved locations and notification settings. Wireless Emergency Alerts do not require registration, but you should confirm they are turned on in your phone’s settings.

Check Alert RivCo

Go to the official Alert RivCo Registration Portal and choose the option for people who are already registered. Try signing in with the information you believe you used when creating your account. If necessary, use the password or account-recovery option before creating another registration.

After logging in, review your addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and notification preferences. If you cannot locate an existing account after attempting account recovery, complete a new registration.

Remember that traditional landlines are enrolled automatically, but mobile and VoIP numbers must be added by the user.

Check Temecula ALERT

Visit the City of Temecula’s Temecula Emergency Alert Notifications page, which uses Smart911, and try to sign in. If you registered for this and the Riverside County Alert RivCo awhile ago, you might see on the page that you are registered for emergency notifications from both the City of Temecula and Riverside County.

You should also see a list titled: People/Household, which displays those in your household who have registered for Temecula’s notifications. There you can click links to edit your basic info as well as details and medical info. If you move out of the area, you can also remove your profile. Scroll down the page to see and edit other very detailed information on your profile.

During a recent review of her own account, GOH Firewise coordinator Jan Tucker discovered that her Smart911 sharing options needed attention. Her experience is a useful reminder to review both your alert preferences and any optional Safety Profile settings rather than assuming that everything remains configured as originally intended.