Deschutes County 911 received 723 calls in five hours when the Juniper Ridge Fire burned northeast of Cooley Road outside of Bend over the weekend. That’s as many calls in five hours that 911 can get in a day.

There’s an easy way for you to be notified when an emergency is happening in the county. Sign up for the Deschutes Alert System. The county will call your phone when natural disasters or other emergencies happen. A recorded message will play, notifying you what is going on. It works for land lines and cellphones.

The system will redial your number three times if it is busy. It will also leave a voicemail, if that picks up. Coverage includes all of Deschutes County and also Camp Sherman and Crooked River Ranch. You will only get calls when there is an emergency. The information is only used for the system and is not sold.

The system is not perfect. If a cellphone is linked to a specific address, the system can’t tell you are out of the area or if you moved. But if you would like these notifications, sign up. More information is available at: deschutes.org/911/page/sign-deschutes-emergency-alerts.