Soft start to P.A. emergency alert system

A new software system could help Prince Albert and area respond quicker if there is a wide-spread emergency.

The Prince Albert Fire Department (PAFD) purchased the software system last year through the Everbridge Company.

PAFD Fire Chief Jason Everitt said Everbridge is a global company, predominantly in North America.

“They have systems set up across the United States and Canada and its set up for mass notification of community members when an incident is unfolding that requires an instant message sent out to people for informational purposes, for directions, and things along those lines,” he said.

The software system will allow Prince Albert and surrounding area residents to sign up for mass messages in the event of a public emergency requiring mass notification.

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Residents can register for notifications at www.paalert.ca

“Basically what we’re looking for is when [residents] go in and create an account they’ll put in their address and all the different contact paths we could potentially reach them by in the event of an emergency.”

Everitt said when and if something comes up and it’s not just the community as a whole the system can alert just the people in the affected areas.

“It’s not just [for] the community as a whole, it could be a portion of a community, it could be a street, it could be an area of the city or it could be the entire city if necessary. We would be able to send out a message and within seconds or minutes be able to communicate that to all the people affected as to what’s going on or what we may require them to do,” he explained.

Everitt said the system is up and live right now, but it’s a soft start right now.

PAFD will be promoting the program in the community in the spring and then in June they will be conducting a test of the system and will determine at that point if they will activate the program fully.

“In the event of a large scale incident communicating with the public becomes very difficult, it’s labor intensive and very inaccurate as to who is actually getting that message. This way those persons that are in the system will be able to get that same message that everyone is getting, it will be crystal clear what’s going on and what we require them to do and it can be done within a very short period of time.”

swallace@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahthesquid