CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

Warning — This is NOT an Emergency

Newport Beach will be testing the emergency AlertOC telephone system this morning between 10 a.m. and noon, fire officials said.

All Newport Beach businesses and residents will get the call from the countywide emergency notification system, which lets city officials communicate about public safety in a time-sensitive manner.

“Wednesday’s test call is intended to remind the community about the system, and also to test internal activation procedures,” said Jennifer Schulz, a Newport Beach Fire Department spokeswoman. “All listed primary residential and business phones in Newport Beach are automatically included in the system and will receive a phone message that will last less than 60 seconds.”

If you don’t get the call, you should visit the city’s website and click on the “Disaster Preparedness” button to enter your information into the secure database. You can add up to three phone numbers and two email addresses, and you can receive emergency information via text messages to cell phones, PDAs or email accounts, or opt to have information delivered through TTY/TDD for hearing impaired residents.

Residents with call-blocking services can also receive the city’s AlertOC calls by adding (949) 644-3620 to their approved number list, Schulz said.

For more information about today’s test, call (949) 644-3109.

Corona del Mar residents received an AlertOC call in November after a series of car burglaries; read more here. And residents near Fashion Island received calls in October when police were searching for three men believed to be planning an armed robbery in the shopping center. One of the men later was killed in a shootout with Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies. Read our stories here and here.

Early in March, city officials were left explaining why an AlertOC call went out after a tsunami warning had ended; the mistake was blamed on misinformation from the U.S. Coast Guard. Read our story here.