Emergency managers across B.C. have been issuing emergency alerts this summer, with notifications about wildfires and a potential tsunami.
But some wish they had better tools at their disposal.
Emergency alerts are the responsibility of local governments and First Nations.
When there is an immediate threat to life, and there is information that could help save lives (i.e. evacuation orders), local governments can ask the provincial government to send a “broadcast intrusive” alert through B.C.’s emergency alert system.
That means an alarm sounds and a short message is broadcast on television and radio, and on cellphones that are connected to the local network, in the area that is under threat. (People are likely most familiar with that system from Amber Alerts, which are sent when a child has been abducted and police have information to share about the person believed to have abducted them.)
Local governments do not have the authority to send broadcast-intrusive alerts themselves.
If they want to notify residents of an emergency that doesn’t meet the province’s bar of immediate threat to life (for example, July 30’s tsunami advisory), they can share messages on their website and social media and through news releases.
In order to share the message more directly, local governments often contract third-party notification systems like Alertable and Voyent Alert.
Through those systems, they can send push alerts through phone apps, as well as emails, text messages, and calls to landlines — but residents have to subscribe first.
That presents a challenge, especially in regions where there are multiple jurisdictions.
In Greater Victoria, for example, there are at least four different systems used by the 13 local governments.
That’s precisely why the province should set up an overarching system, according to Shaun Koopman, the manager of emergency services with the Strathcona Regional District, based on northern Vancouver Island.
He’s calling on the provincial government to contract one company to provide alert systems for both the provincial and local governments.
He said if there was one service provider, people could simply subscribe to the one system and then opt in to receive alerts from every jurisdiction they spend time in — instead of signing up for alerts separately for the municipality they live in, the one they work in, and the others where they may spend time.
It would also mean local governments and First Nations wouldn’t have to take on the cost of a notification system themselves.
“It’s one default system…[to] just know that every member of the public and every community at least has that default blanket coverage,” said Koopman.
Tarina Colledge, chair of the B.C. Association of Emergency Managers, said having both local governments and the province using the same alert system would also help make sure that everyone would receive urgent alerts in one fell swoop — even those who don’t watch TV or radio or aren’t in cell range.
“So a broadcast intrusive alert would then replicate through for things like email, text message … a landline phone,” she said.
She says that would help in rural communities and for older adults who only have landlines. It would mean that people would automatically get an alert in the way that best works for them.
But Erin Stockill, the emergency program officer for the District of Saanich in Greater Victoria, said the current system works well for her municipality, because it relies more on proximity to the existing emergency, and less on people having to intentionally subscribe.
“There’s no guarantee that someone who’s subscribed is in close proximity to the hazard. So this broadcast intrusive system ensures speed and effectiveness so that the people who need to know will be made aware,” said Stockill.
The B.C. Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness did not directly answer CBC’s question about whether it has considered contracting a single service provider, but did say in a statement that after each emergency event, it “reviews the event and actions taken in order to help determine where any improvements can be made.”
That includes tsunamis, earthquakes, wildfires, floods or other hazards.
