Viewers questioned the authenticity of the calls and texts they received this week. The county indeed sends them.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Several viewers in the Portland metro area contacted KGW Thursday evening and Friday morning to report that they had recently received one or more strange text messages, sometimes accompanied by phone calls from unrecognized numbers.
The messages appeared to relate to the ongoing heat wave in the Portland area, but the unusual format and lack of a clearly identified sender left some of the recipients suspicious that the messages might be spam or a phishing scam, and they wanted to know if it is safe to click the link in texts.
Are these SMS legitimate?
Yes, the messages are legitimate.
It’s a very good habit to be skeptical of unexpected text messages and calls in today’s world of phishing and robocalls, but in this case the messages were sent by Multnomah County using a system called Everbridge Alert.
The link in the text messages leads to an alert page that looks like this:
Multnomah County is one of many Oregon counties that use Everbridge. Washington County also switched to Everbridge in October because it is compatible with the OR-Alert state-level emergency messaging system, which was rolled out last year.
The Portland area suffered a heat wave this week, and county officials told KGW on Thursday they would send tens of thousands of robocalls and text messages to residents of “heat islands” – areas with high risk which tend to get warmer than the rest of the city.
RELATED: City and County Leaders Urge Portlanders to Stay Vigilant as Heat Wave Continues Through Sunday
In a news release Friday, officials said the county has made more than 425,000 calls and texts to residents of heat islands and other high-risk locations. Nearly 10,000 calls and texts were also sent to residents of mobile home communities earlier in the week.
Portland resilience manager Jonna Papaefthimiou said officials initially prioritized people in the most vulnerable communities such as mobile and prefab homes for alerts, but broadened their approach on Thursday as forecasts had changed. to predict a longer heat wave.
“We decided to send out all of these emergency alerts because as the event lengthened, the risk increased for more and more people in the community,” she said.
The heat wave produced a series of life-threatening days with highs in the 90s or in some cases above 100 degrees, and temperatures remained elevated overnight. Previous forecasts called for the surge to begin to subside after Thursday, but it is now expected to continue through Saturday.
RELATED: How is Portland handling in-person check-ins during this heat emergency?
Multnomah County and other local governments and agencies have put in place a host of measures to protect people from the heat, including overnight cooling shelters, misting stations and free transportation.
Authorities have also urged residents to frequently check on friends and family, especially those who are elderly, live alone or do not have air conditioning. The county also conducted its own direct outreach efforts, both in person and through automated mass alerts.