New wireless emergency public alert system being tested province-wide on Wednesday

Luke Palmer, Emergency Preparedness Manager with the City of Lethbridge, says they believe the use of wireless alerts will help them reach a greater number of residents quickly, providing critical information at their fingertips about an immediate disaster.

“Really the misconception with this alerting system is that people are anticipating it as a text message, and while it may look like a text message, it’s still an alert. Your phone is going to vibrate like it would when receiving any other message, and it’s going to come off with an alert that’s like what people would see on the Alberta Emergency Alert app.”

Other alerts that provide information on developing emergencies or alerts from other areas will continue to be delivered through the Alberta Emergency Alert app, social media and the Alberta Emergency Alert website.

Palmer says the alert is very important to the City, just because it allows them to reach a greater audience of impacted people.

“The big change with this program is we can actually put it geographically to impacted areas, so we can select it to as small as a block,” he continued. “We can send messages to anyone whose wireless device is turned on and connected to a phone network.”

The wireless alert message will only contain basic information, and maps and more details will be available from the app and website.

“The messaging in this alert is going to be as clear and concise as possible. It’s going to let people know what’s happening and for more information, they can go to the Alberta Emergency Alert app. We’re hoping that there’s going to be a link in that text to the website in case people don’t have the app. We know people aren’t going to read the novel alerts, so we’re trying to keep it as clear as we can,” Palmer stated.

Members of the Lethbridge emergency management team are being trained on the new system and Palmer says currently they have people trained with the Alberta Emergency Alert app who are probably going to cross over for the Alert Ready training.

“We would like to expand it more to police, right now it’s mostly tied to Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services and at the corporate level at city hall. We have the capability now to issue an alert for any natural disaster or a technological or civic matter. The capabilities of it also include Amber Alerts so getting police tied into this is going to be really critical,” said Palmer.

Wireless customers cannot opt out of the messages, but they will not be charged for any emergency alerts they receive.

For more information about the wireless emergency alert system, you can check out the Alberta Emergency Alert website.

by Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

New wireless emergency public alert system being tested province-wide on Wednesday

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