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Welcome to ESMS

Welcome to the Bladen County ESMS registration web site. From here, you will be able to register and sign up for the ESMS and begin receiving SMS messages on your cellular phone when your Fire Department or Rescue Squad is dispatched.

What is ESMS?

ESMS stands for Emergency Short Message Service. This is a free service provided for Bladen County emergency responders in a joint effort between the Bladen County Sheriff's Office and the Tar Heel Fire Department. The system delivers text messages to your cell phone from the CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) System from inside Bladen Central Communications. If you have text messaging available on your phone, you can receive these messages. See the FAQ section below for more information.

How does ESMS work?

When Bladen Central receives a 911 call, the dispatcher begins entering information about the call on the CAD System. When the dispatcher has enough information, the CAD will automatically start the process to send the necessary paging tones over the radio system and the dispatcher will announce the call. At about the same time the tones are being broadcast, the CAD creates a message and delivers it to a Text Message Server that resides in Central. This Server sends text messages to the emergency responders’ cellular phones by means of a modem. This modem is nothing more than a cellular phone in a box. When you receive the message on your phone, it will indicate the message came from the number 9108761234. This is the phone number of the modem at Bladen Central Communications.

This is a how your message may appear on your phone.
From: 9108761234
CAD:ST57;MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH W/INJURY;123 MAIN ST/NC HWY131;THL

ST57 - Station number
123 Main St - Address of the incident
Following the address is a backslash ( / ) and NC HWY 131 which is the nearest cross street.
THL indicates it is in the Tar Heel area.

ESMS was made available to:

Ø Supplement your radio or pager. For example, you can SEE the address of the call as opposed to have to ask Central to “Repeat the numeric’s, please”. (Obviously, you should not attempt to do this while driving.)

Ø As a backup means of dispatching emergency responders. In the event of a major failure at Central, ESMS provides a way to get a message delivered to you.

How do I sign up?

Select the Login / Registration link at the bottom left of the main page of this site. You will be asked to provide your name, the cell phone number that you wish ESMS messages to be delivered to, an email address and the Fire Department and/or Rescue Squads where you are currently an active member. Then select SUBMIT. For each Fire Department and/or Rescue Squad that you apply for, the Chief (or designated officer) will receive an email to confirm that you are an active member. Once the Chief (or designated officer) replies to the email message with an approval, you will be added to the system usually within 24 hours. Once you are added you will receive a confirmation message from ESMS on your cell phone indicating you have been added for each Fire Department/Rescue Squad you are approved for.

E-SMS FAQ

Q: How much does it cost to register and sign up for ESMS?

A: The service is free of charge. Although some companies have sold this service in the past, the backbone of the ESMS system is owned by Bladen County Sheriffs Department. There is no cost associated on your part with the process of SENDING the ESMS message. However there may be a charge from your cell phone provider for RECEIVING the ESMS messages on your cell phone.

Q: What do I need to do to determine how much it will cost me for receiving ESMS messages from my cell phone company?

A: ESMS messages are delivered as a standard text message. Contact your cell phone provider and ask customer service to check you price plan to see what text messages currently cost you monthly. Some providers will allow a set number of text messages to be free for each month in your billing cycle and then charge you for each message of over that limit. For example, you may be allowed 25 text messages a month on your phones plan. After sending or receiving these 25 messages, you will be charged for additional text messages, usually 5 or 10 cents per message. In this case, if your Fire Department or Rescue Squad gets paged 30 times in a months time, you will be billed for the extra 5 messages not covered by your phones price plan. Some price plans have a certain number of free calls but text messaging may cost each time you send or receive one. It is your responsibility to verify with your cell phone provider to determine your price plans text messaging charges. Neither the Bladen County Sheriffs Department nor your Fire Department/Rescue Squad can be held responsible for the cost of your cell phones text messaging charges in relation to ESMS message delivery.

Q: How reliable is ESMS?

A: The ESMS message is delivered to your cell phone provider within a couple of seconds. There are numerous reasons why this message may be delayed in reaching your phone. You could be in a poor cell phone coverage area or your cell phone provider may have a network related problem.

Q: How fast will I receive ESMS messages when my Fire Department/Rescue Squad is dispatched?

A: ESMS will send out each message to each member one at a time. The speed of the delivery will depend on the number of stations dispatched. If there are 3 Fire Departments dispatched and each Department has 30 members subscribed to ESMS, the system will have to send out 90 messages. If you receive message number 90, it may take a little more than 1 minute for ESMS to send out the message. The speed that the message is delivered to your cell phone may vary with different cell phone providers.

Q: Does it matter what cell phone company I use?

A: Currently, we are not aware of any cell phone companies in Bladen County that do not provide a text messaging service.

Q: Who is eligible to receive ESMS messages?

A: Only Active Firefighters or Rescue Squad members are eligible.

Q: What should I do if my phone does not receive ESMS messages?

A: When you complete the registration process and your Chief has authorized you to be added to the ESMS system, you will receive a text message indicating “You have been added to the Bladen County ESMS system. Have A Nice Day!” If you have received this message and you are not receiving ESMS messages when your department is paged out, return to this website and select the Technical Support button and follow the directions. The ESMS Geek Squad will investigate the problem!

Q: Since ESMS will tell me when I get a call, do I still need to carry my Pager or Radio?

A: The ESMS feature is NOT designed to be your primary means of dispatch. Your radio or pager is still your most reliable means of getting notified of a call.

Q: I am a member of more than one Fire Department and/or Rescue Squad. How many can I register for?

A: You can register for as many as you wish. As long as the Authorization process is completed (the Chief approves) for all the requested Stations/Squads, there are no limits.

Q: What if I start getting ESMS messages and decide I do not wish receive them anymore?

A: Return to this website and select the Registration button. From that page, enter your information as you did when you registered. At the bottom of the page, and select REMOVE ME, then SUBMIT.

Q: What if I change cell phone companies?

A: If you have your old number “ported” to your new cell phone company, you will not have to change anything. Your ESMS message will follow you to your new cell phone at the new cell phone company. However, if you sign up with a new cell phone company and get a new number, return to this website, select Technical Support. In the message section, explain that you are changing cell phone numbers and provide the old and new number. When the change is completed in the ESMS system, you will receive an ESMS message indicating that the change has been completed.