Alert system Just a late afternoon test for the Red Cross Community Alert System.

We now have tallied 460 local downloads of the Desktop Alert program. Thanks for your support.

Remember -- hurricane season starts tomorrow, June 1st. We've already tracked Tropical Storm Aletta into Acapulco, Mexico, and there are many more to come this summer.

Interested media are invited to contact the Red Cross about new information related to this Atlantic hurricane season. We've also got hurricane preparedness information available online -- and a reminder for our shelter operations class which is open to the public June 9th.

Thanks again for staying active and alert in your community.  ¶ 3:53 PM

  Barrington update Our damage assessment count at the Barrington on the Green Apartments shows a total of 14 units being affected, with one of them being vacant. Of the 13 damaged:

• 3 destroyed
• 4 heavy smoke and water
• 6 light damage

Our caseworkers have finished for the day, providing assistance to six of the affected families. Two families are out of town until Tuesday, and the property manager has been in touch with the remaining five.

All have information about how to reach us when they are ready for casework.


(Please e-mail Ike if you use this for broadcast)  ¶ 2:47 PM

  Barrington Fire Update Our damage assessment count at the Barrington on the Green Apartments shows a total of 14 units being affected, with one of them being vacant. Of the 13 damaged:

• 3 destroyed
• 4 heavy smoke and water
• 6 light damage

Our caseworkers have finished for the day, providing assistance to six of the affected families. Two families are out of town until Tuesday, and the property manager has been in touch with the remaining five. All have information about how to reach us when they are ready for casework.  ¶ 1:17 PM

  Red Cross responds to apartment fire The Birmingham Area Chapter is on scene providing assistance at an apartment fire in Hoover. Our mobile feeding truck is providing drinks and snacks to those directly affected by the fire, as well as first responders from the city of Hoover.

Our initial information is that six units have been affected at Barrington on the Green off Highway 150 (near the WalMart shopping center.) We have not finished our disaster assessment, and plan to provide client casework at the site later today.

More information as it becomes available.


Audio with Ike Pigott,
Public Affairs Officer


(Please e-mail Ike if you use this for broadcast)  ¶ 10:35 AM

  Hurricane Forecast The 2006 Atlantic forecast is out, and here is a summary:

• 80% chance of heavier-than-normal season
• 15% chance of normal season
• 5% chance of lighter-than-normal season
• 13-16 named storms
• 8-10 named hurricanes
• 4-6 hurricanes of Category 3 or higher

Here's a Red Cross hurricane resource page you can link to from your site -- feel free to grab information.

Ike will be out of the office after 1pm, and not back until Friday.

Thanks...  ¶ 11:10 AM

  Contact advisory Ike will be out for most of next week.

Your contact for Monday through Thursday will be Jean Petties.

Ike will return on Friday the 26th.  ¶ 12:41 PM

  This is a test... ...of the Red Cross Media Alert System.

It's been a little quiet for local calamities and disasters. No doubt we are jinxing things by mentioning it.

Thanks for being one of the 372 people who have downloaded and installed this program. (Don't worry, we don't know who you are -- you anonymously tripped an electronic turnstile so we could keep a count, nothing more.)

Faster and more efficient disaster communication helps everyone in our community. Thanks for playing a part.  ¶ 2:10 PM

  Weekly test This is only a test of the Red Cross Media Alert system.

If you are reading this message, thanks for downloading and installing this software. As of today, the program has been downloaded 483 times, with 320 of those being in the local Birmingham Area Chapter jurisdiction. We appreciate your support, and your eagerness to plug into community disaster information.

(We are less than a month out from the start of Hurricane Season -- and this page might get very busy sooner than we'd like.)  ¶ 10:05 AM