County officials are struggling to educate residents about a phone-based weather alert system, just a few weeks before the county’s 28 weather warning sirens are scheduled to be silenced.

Many residents appear to be confused about two separate phone alert systems that have the same name, but separate purposes. So far, only about 3,000 residents have signed up for Champaign County’s Code Red weather alert system, said Craig Evans, director of the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency. The system sends out an automated message to cell and home phones when the National Weather Service issues a warning about severe weather.

The system will be important because the county’s weather sirens have passed their life expectancy and will be decommissioned on Dec. 31.

However, Evans said the county also has a similar but separate Code Red system that alerts residents in emergencies such as a missing child or bio-terrorism alert. About 15,000 residents have signed up for that system, Evans said. Some residents believe if they sign up for one of the alerts, they will receive both warnings, but that is not the case.

“I’m learning that there’s quite a bit of confusion,” Evans said.

Although they are similar, both alert systems serve a different purpose, which Evans described as the difference between Microsoft Word and Excel. While they’re both Microsoft programs, they each serve a different purpose.

Residents should make sure they are signed up for both alert systems, he said.

“That’s my biggest concern, that we are still struggling to get people to sign up,” he said.

Residents can sign up for both systems on the county’s EMA web site, or call the office at (937) 484-1642.