AlertSCC FAQ

This is a mass notification system that public officials in Santa Clara County, including the City of Palo Alto, use to quickly notify community members of emergency situations and other events of which the public needs to be made aware. It enables officials to provide official emergency alerts and warnings quickly and easily. 

AlertSCC allows officials to provide critical information directly to you as emergencies happen. The alerts provide information on where to go, what to do and how to stay informed through text message, email, cell phone, home phone or work phone. Text message is the fastest way to receive notifications.

No. This is a free service and anyone can register for AlertSCC.

If your cell phone, work phone or email address changes, you are responsible for going to the AlertSCC login portal here and updating the information. You do not need to update information for landline telephones at your home; that information is automatically updated.

You will only receive alerts for in-progress emergency situations which require your immediate attention. These messages will include the type of incident, the area impacted, and the actions you need to take for your safety. Once a year, a test notification is conducted for training and preparedness efforts.

Notifications and updates are sent to landline phones and any cell phones and/or e-mail accounts supplied. In the event of an emergency, the City of Palo Alto will be able to send important alerts and updates directly to community members if they choose to create an AlertSCC account.

AlertSCC allows community members to choose the type of delivery path (text, email, phone) and order of delivery. For example, some residents may want to place the priority on receiving text messages before e-mail, or vice versa. This customization allows residents to choose which delivery method suits their needs best.

AlertSCC will contact you on all devices you have selected. Text and e-mail notifications will have a CONFIRM option, and if you CONFIRM you received a notification, AlertSCC will not continue the delivery to other devices.

When you receive AlertSCC text messages from the City of Palo Alto, they will be sent from the short code 88911. Add text number 88911 to your mobile phone contacts to easily identify text messages from AlertSCC. If you choose to receive voice calls, the system will contact you from (650) 329-2420. We recommend storing this information in your cell phone as a contact named “City of Palo Alto AlertSCC.”

When you answer a phone call from AlertSCC, you will hear a pre-recorded audio message with the emergency information. There are two methods AlertSCC uses to place phone calls. The first is from your subscription preferences, which you can set at the login portal here. If you do not want to receive phone calls from the system, then do not provide a phone number for these phone options. The second way is using a white pages/yellow pages contact list. In this way, public officials can increase the reach of the notification to contact those who have a traditional landline phone, but who may not have created their own AlertSCC account. A high amount of opt-in users have selected their cell phone as their first priority to receive emergency alerts.

Yes, the AlertSCC system will leave the pre-recorded audio message on an answering machine or on voicemail. The system will leave the entire message at once.

If the line is busy, AlertSCC will try two more times to connect.

Absolutely not. The information that you provide will be used for emergency notification purposes only. We will not distribute or sell your contact or location information to any vendor or other organization.