I received this message from Susan Mundy regarding the massive
> Wild Fire that is ravaging the Sierra Nevada Mountains just
> outside of Yosemite National Park, which is close to Twain Harte
> where she lives. She is a very avid Telephone Collector who is
> very popular with many of the Telephone Collector community. She
> has let me know that all of her better phones have been "removed
> to a safe protected environment", and that she is feeling better
> now that they are safe. At any rate, she uncovered another
> salient reason one might think long and hard about giving up
> your last Land Line. Here is her message:
>
> Hi Walt,
>
> The Rim fire is a few miles from my home and tension is high in
> our community. When we are given an "advisory evacuation", it
> is done with a reverse 911 call to our land lines. Tonight at
> the community meeting with all of the agencies working on this
> catastrophic fire, someone asked if cell phones could be added
> to the list because some people have given up their land lines.
> With the current system we have in place, it will take two or
> three weeks for cell phones to be added. Not much help, so our
> sheriff's department is sending out officers to each house to
> make sure everyone receives the advisory evacuation message.
> Once the status changes to mandatory evacuation, we have to
> leave immediately, so the advisory evacuation notice is
> critical. This is just another reason why I will NEVER give up
> my land line.....I know the subject of whether to keep a land
> line comes up on the list-serve, and who would have thought that
> it would take 2-3 weeks to add a cell phone number to an
> emergency system. That is the current state of affairs in
> Tuolumne County California, and even the top officials were
> shocked it will take that long to add a cell phone number.
>
> If you feel the 911 reverse news is list-serve worthy, please
> share. I would never have known except I am in the middle
> of this mess....
>
> Sue
Posted by Neal McLain