BUCKHANNON – Upshur County’s Department of Homeland Security and Office of Emergency Management wants folks to be aware of alerts that could affect the area.

So, as social media has gained traction, the department has created a Facebook page.

“We started a Facebook page to be able to better get information out to the public,” said county DHS-OEM director Brian Shreves, “and social media seems to be the platform that a lot of people monitor so we can put pertinent information over the Facebook page.”

The Facebook page will serve as another platform that will provide the community with critical information.

Folks can expect to find weather alerts and the state’s bi-weekly weather briefings to be aware of for the coming week. Scheduled classes and trainings will also be put on the page for the public.

Shreves said the page will be updated regularly.

“If there’s information that we need to put out, it will be put out every day,” he said. “There may be days where nothing’s going on, and we may not post anything on it, but as soon as we get any information we feel is pertinent to the community, we’ll put it on the Facebook page.”

The Facebook page is called the Upshur County Dept. of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Because the page will not be monitored 24/7, if folks have an emergency, Shreves advises that they call 911 or the Upshur Communication Center at 304-472-9550.

To sign up for text alerts regarding critical emergency preparedness information, please text UpshurCoWVAlerts to 69310 or visit http://entry.inspironlogistics.com/upshur_wv/wens.cfm.