GODFREY - Mayor McCormick announced today that Chris Sichra, Godfrey’s Public Safety Administrator will be holding another Code Red drive to prepare residents for the “second” severe weather season that is upon us. While everyone is aware of the “primary” severe weather season in spring, it is also important to remind residents of our region’s second season for potential severe storms that come every fall.
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The callback system known as “Code Red” is operated by Madison County and the County Emergency Management Agency and is designed to send group emergency messages to a caller’s cell, email or home phone that warns residents of imminent severe weather like severe thunderstorm or tornado warnings, the service is free to those who sign up.
Sichra, who has been working for the village for nearly a half a decade representing its ESDA interests has an extensive safety background that involves 25 years experience working in previous “career” public safety positions for the city of St Louis that include: the Airport Police Dept, (traffic officer) the City Marshal’s Office (armed deputy marshal) and nearly 20 years as a St Louis city Firefighter/EMT/Haz-Mat Tech. His mission focuses on a “collaborative approach” to provide local municipal support to the Madison County Emergency Management Agency’s Code Red program. Supporting that program also involves educating and preparing the public about disasters and teaching them measures they can take at home to plan, mitigate, prepare, and respond to disasters to better protect their family and property.
The drive will be held at Reliance Bank (Godfrey Branch) located at 2810 Godfrey Rd, Godfrey, IL 62035. The drive will be held on Tuesday, October 16th from 9:30AM to 12:30PM. Sichra will be on hand to assist residents to sign up for the service, and have one on one consulting to answer questions regarding severe weather, home/business disaster preparation and pass out literature to educate residents about the home disaster planning process.
Sichra advises that it is important for residents living in areas without public warning sirens to sign up for programs like Code Red, as it may be the only warning you or your family get to take cover, especially late at night or early in the morning. He adds: “I’m especially thankful to the county EMA staff, Director Todd Fulton, Mary Kate Brown and Tony Falconio for all the hard work they do to seeing to the continued success of the Code Red program, we all depend on them.”
The village is still looking for other local businesses in the community who would be interested to host a sign-up drive event and the only requirement needed is an area to set up a laptop, a Wi-Fi signal and a small table to set out informational literature/pamphlets for disaster planning and preparation.
Mayor McCormick has worked hard during his administration to ensure resident safety and supports cooperation between municipal government and local business and is extremely grateful to Reliance Bank for again hosting the event indicating the village strives towards working with the business community especially when it comes to emergency management, disaster preparedness or recovery efforts.
Trustee Eldon “Twirp” Williams who serves as the Chairman of the Village Public Safety Committee praised Sichra’s ongoing commitment over the past several years educating residents and protecting village interests during disasters and encourages everyone to get signed up for Code Red warnings, the service is free and you can sign up online at this link: https://public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/68684CD288F8
If you have any questions or concerns or need help signing up, or have a business or group in Godfrey that would like to host a sign up drive you can contact Chris Sichra at: publicsafety@godfreyil.org
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