If your tenants can stay safe when danger is nearby, it's better for everyone. You avoid tragedies, your tenants' lives are less disrupted, your property is likely to be protected, and the rent is paid.

Thankfully, there is an effective, authoritative, free service available in most communities that accomplishes this. Emergency notification service (ENS) alerts contact citizens via phone call, text and email.

ENS refers to a collection of services like reverse-911, severe weather alerts and other local notices. They deliver one-way messages containing the details of an occurring or pending emergency.

Unlike wireless emergency alerts (WEAs) for a wider area, ENS calls are location-specific. The calls can be made over landlines, but in many homes today those landlines have been replaced with cellphones. What if that's the case and a family is at home with no way of being notified unless someone knocks on the door?

There is often a vast amount of knowledge available in times of emergency, but most don't know how to get the critical information that pertains to them. They listen to the radio, bounce around the TV dial or comb through social media trying to find out the latest update.

Or perhaps they get a WEA from their cellular service provider. Unfortunately, WEAs are only used for presidential alerts, AMBER alerts or extreme weather alerts, and they are also limited in their ability. You will only get the WEA if you are within the range of the particular cell towers broadcasting the text message.

In addition, those messages are short and are only designed to get your attention. They don't give you all the information concerning the emergency.

There is a better option, but most people aren't aware of it.

In the event a reverse-911 alert is made concerning an emergency in any of your registered locations, you will immediately receive it, wherever you are at that time. Remember, your cellphone service provider may put out a general WEA alert, but it will only concern federal emergencies, not those specific to your locations.

Now you can be alerted to notices from any community's ENS in the country by simply taking a few minutes and registering your cellphone in their system. There is no excuse for not being among the first to be notified in the event of any emergency — from tornadoes to flooding, terrorist attacks to gas leaks and everything in between.

To get started, you need is detailed information from your local emergency response team. In most communities, you register for ENS alerts through your county or city website.

Signing up for ENS is easy, fast and free. Register for all of your properties, and encourage every tenant to also register.