Phone Emergency Notification System

Enrollment in the Phone Emergency Notification System (PENS) is now available to members of the North Hills Community Association!

Would you like to receive a call when there is an emergency situation such as: 1) a fire near our neighborhood, 2) emergency information in the aftermath of a damaging earthquake, 3) a nearby Police action or another similar event?

Members of the North Hills Community Association can now join PENS, a voicemail based system that sends you a recorded message to your telephone when there is an emergency in our area. Trained members of NHCA are responsible for generating these calls.

How do I enroll?

* If you are already a member, click here, and follow the instructions.

* If you are not a member, consider joining the North Hills Community Association.

What will constitute an emergency?

Board Members of NHCA will carefully consider what constitutes an emergency and make decisions based upon what is known about the situation. The system will be tested annually on the first Tuesday of every January at noon. The system will be tested again to announce the start of fire season as determined annually by California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

If you have any questions about PENS, have suggestions for improving it or would like to help maintain the system, please send us an email.

Berkeley residents

The City of Berkeley has its own emergency notification system called BENS (Berkeley Emergency Notification System).  Here's an excerpt from the Web site:

"What is BENS?

The Berkeley Emergency Notification System (BENS) allows the City to call residents at home to give them critical public safety information. This service is also known as an "outdialer" or a "reverse 911" system and is for emergency notifications.

Calls from BENS are pre-recorded and the speaker will be very clear that it is an emergency call from the City of Berkeley. If the call is a test of the system, the message will be stated very clearly.

One of the essential features of this system is that it allows the City to choose a targeted geographical area to deliver the message. For example, if a residential area were threatened by a wildfire, the residents that have AT&T landline phone service or have self-registered their cell phones or VOIP telephone numbers may receive an evacuation message."