Delta County Alerts - Common Questions

August 9, 2025 

As firefighters wrap up suppression efforts on the Leroux Fire north of Hotchkiss in the upper Leroux Creek Area, Delta County Emergency Management wanted to share information about some common questions we have received about Delta County Alerts and how they work! Below are some questions posed by residents and detailed responses about how to set up your Delta County Alerts profile to only receive the alerts you want and need! 

Why did I receive an emergency alert notification OR why did I not receive the alert?

This is the most common question we receive after an incident such as the Leroux Fire and it is a good question that helps us explain how the emergency notification system works! It all comes down to the address in each person’s Delta County Alerts profile.   Prior to 2023, Delta County utilized the CodeRED emergency notification system and in January 2023 we switched to a new system, Genasys Emergency Management, which is the cloud-based system that powers Delta County Alerts.  

In December 2022, existing CodeRED subscribers were transferred over to Delta County Alerts and residents were asked to update their info and/or create a new profile and sign up for alerts in the new Delta County Alerts starting in January 2023. However, the alert system at that time did not require an address to be entered when creating a profile and a lot of residents did not realize there were multiple tabs on the registration page which included things such as your home address. Because of this, a lot of people only registered with their name and cell phone number and/or email but no address. 

Emergency Alerts are issued based on those profiles where residents have opted into alerts from Delta County by creating a profile and registering with Delta County Alerts. The alert system is not automatic and does not alert you unless you register! For more information on IPAWS and Wireless Emergency Alerts which do not need registration, please visit the IPAWS alert page. 

How are residents selected and notified?

When an emergency arises such as a wildfire, Delta County Emergency Management and/or Dispatch will draw a polygon on the map and define an alert boundary for residents that need to be notified of the emergency. Any address point registered within the alert polygon will receive the alert, while address points outside that polygon will not receive it. This is intentional and how emergency alert systems are designed to prevent alert fatigue and notifying people who do not live near an active emergency.  

For example – take the Leroux Fire. The evacuation zone was for upper Leroux Creek north of the intersection of 3100 Road and Redlands Mesa Road to the National Forest boundary.  Any registered address points in that area were included in the alert but addresses in Lazear were not and therefore residents in Lazear (south end of 3100 Road) would not be alerted while residents in the Stoney Creek Subdivision within the evacuation zone were. 

What do I need to do to customize my alert experience?

If you did not enter an address when you created your Delta County Alerts profile, the system does not know where you live! As of August 9, 2025 there are approximately 1142 profiles in Delta County Alerts without a valid address. To ensure these residents are notified in an emergency, Emergency Management has placed all these profiles into a group that we call, "Always Notify, no address registered."  Since no address is registered and the alert system doesn't know where these residents live and we don't want want them to miss a critical notification; these residents receive every emergency alert we issue regardless of where it is! 

Delta County Emergency Management encourages all residents to go in and update your Delta County Alerts profile and add your home address, your place of work (in Delta County) your children’s school, your place of worship and any other location(s) where you frequent in Delta County so you can receive alerts based on where you live and work! 

I like to know what is going on across the county. Can I opt-in to alerts for the entire county and 9-1-1 service area not just where I live?  

Yes! If  you would like to receive all alerts issued by Delta County, there are two (2) steps you need to take: 

Log into your Delta County Alerts Account 

• Once signed in on the main account page scroll down to the pictures and select the question that says “Do you want to receive all alerts regardless of location?” Select the option – "Send me all alerts for the Delta County 911 service area regardless of location. " This will put you in an alert category that Emergency Management and/or dispatch will select when we send emergency alerts that will send every alert we send to you.  
  • Please note - if you select this option, you may receive phone calls and/or texts in the middle of the night based on the emergency that is occurring and it may not impact you. Example - if there is an alert issued for Delta at 2:00 a.m., but you live in Paonia, if you opt-into all alerts you will receive the alert at 2:00 a.m. as well as the residents in Delta within the alert area. 

 Download the ReachWell App and Follow Delta County Alerts 

• Delta County Alerts utilizes the ReachWell app to provide translation of Emergency Alerts into 130 different languages. The App does not require any personal information or an account to get it set up!  All you have to do is download the app to your phone, set your preferred language and then search for and add Delta County Alerts and Delta County Human Services to your feed!  Each alert issued by Delta County is pushed out directly to the app and you will receive via a push notification on your phone. 

What do I do if I can't get into my Delta County Alerts account to update my profile? 

The Delta County Alerts portal will ask you to sign in with your email or cell phone number used to register and your password. If you do not remember your password, please click on the “Forgot your Password?” button and it will allow you to reset your password. If the system does not recognize your email or phone number and you cannot log in, please send an email to oem@deltacountyco.gov that has the following info:

• Name, 
• Cell Phone number(s) you wish to have registered,
• Home Address 
• Do you want to receive all alerts in the County or only those near your home? 
• The names and phone numbers of anyone else in your house you want registered
• The full address of any other locations in Delta County where you want to receive notifications 

An Emergency Management staff member will then update your profile! 

Who do I contact if I have other questions or need assistance? 

You can always contact Delta County Emergency Management and we will be happy to answer your questions about Delta County Alerts!  We can be reached via email at oem@deltacountyco.gov or by calling 970-874-2484 and speaking with OEM Coordinator Mindy Brennan. If Mindy is unavailable, please leave a message and she will call you back!