SAN DIEGO – The County of San Diego is launching a campaign during National Preparedness Month in September to urge residents to register their cell phones for AlertSanDiego and encourage family and friends to do so, especially as the height of fire season begins.

"Registration only takes a couple of minutes. Once you sign up, take another minute to tell your friends and family to register. It’s an easy way to make sure you and the ones you love can get emergency messages in a disaster," said Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Pam Slater-Price.

Currently, about 200,000 cell phones are registered, which exceeds other communities that use the system but is still far short Advertisement

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"When you register your cell phone number, you give us another way to reach you with important information. You would receive notification when the home or business address associated with your cell phone number is impacted by a disaster or emergency," said Ron Lane, Director of the Office of Emergency Services.

Residents can also register VoIP phones and e-mail addresses. AlertSanDiego is different than Reverse 9-1-1 because that system only contacts listed and unlisted landline telephones.

To register for AlertSanDiego, visit

www.ReadySanDiego.org. Updated messages and preparedness facts can also be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ReadySanDiego and Twitter at

www.twitter.com/ReadySanDiego.