RENO, NV - Tiffany Ogle shows us the burned area that came too close to her home nearly two weeks ago.

She wasn't here to see it though.

She evacuated her home beforehand, because of an alert she got from AlertID.

“Grabbed the dogs, the kids, the few important things we could and took off,” says Ogle.

Ogle says she heard about the program a couple of years ago.

Part of her neighborhood watch program, she says she signed up and asked for all kinds of alerts within her community about a two mile radius.

“You can receive information on an interactive crime map as far as what crimes are happening in our neighborhood, at your place of business, or your child's school. And we send text and email alerts to you giving you that information,” says Keli Wilson, Founder of AlertID.

Wilson says the service is free and all you have to do it go to their website AlertID.com and sign up.

You can request to receive all alerts--that could include a neighborhood watch meeting, or you can ask to receive high priority alerts like an evacuation.

During the Washoe Drive Fire, Washoe County Sheriff's Office tapped into the system to reach as many residents as possible.

“In that area, with phone lines going down its important that people keep up with the technology and are able to have phones that receive text messages or can receive emails because that's how the messages went out,” says Armando Avina with Washoe County’s Sheriff Office.