“Every year, our region witnesses drownings, injuries and accidents, lost or missing persons, severe weather, risk of wildfire and other threats to public safety,” said Lisa Bauer, executive director of Boreal Community Media. “We want our residents and visitors to ‘know before you go’ by visiting our digital resource.”

Boreal is not alone in this endeavor.

To keep the public notified, Boreal Community Media created a partnership with the Cook County Office of Emergency Management and Public Safety, the first responders and medical communities, the city of Grand Marais, state and federal officials as well as community volunteers who are committed to public safety.

“I’m excited that the city is part of this partnership,” said Grand Marais Mayor Jay Arrowsmith-DeCoux. “I contacted every jurisdiction in the region and they all said they support this.”

“This is another resource, another tool for citizens and visitors to use to help keep them safe,” said Valerie Marasco, Cook County Director- Office of Emergency Management & Public Information, and Public Information Officer.

Boreal’s system will work with the county’s CodeRed, a high speed mass notification system that notifies about fires, floods, missing person cases, evacuation notices etc. This is also a free service and people can register at http://www.cook.mn.us/ to receive CodeRed notifications.

Boreal Community Media received a $10,000 grant from the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation, which helped pay to create the new site.

“Being prepared for emergencies is critical to help avoid human injury and property damage,” said Holly C. Sampson, President of the Community Foundation. There is a vast amount of information available to help the public be better prepared. The Boreal Community Media emergency preparedness project will help the public find that important information easily and quickly.”

To enroll, please go to WWW.Boreal-Emergency.org

As Bauer said, “If one life is saved, this program will be more than worth the effort to create it. We deeply appreciate the Community Foundation’s generous support to aid the safety and health of our community.”