After much public criticism during November’s atmospheric river, the B.C. government has decided to extend the province’s Alert Ready system beyond tsunami warnings and Amber Alerts to also include imminent threats from floods and wildfires.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said due to an increase in the frequency of threats, the province is now expanding the alert system.
“While it’s important to remember that public emergency alerting is intended to complement, but not replace, emergency alerting already performed by Emergency Management BC and local governments, broadcast intrusive alerts have unique advantages with their reach and impact,” Farnworth said.
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As part of the change, the province will be conducting a test of B.C.’s wireless alerting system at 1:55 p.m. PT on Wednesday.
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The wireless alerting system is online and ready to be deployed for flooding and will expand again to include wildfire threats by early June.
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Local governments and First Nations have been informed of the system’s expansion.
The testing this week is designed to assess the system’s readiness for an actual emergency and identify any adjustments that may need to be made.
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B.C. floods: Province preps emergency alert system
B.C. floods: Province preps emergency alert system – Nov…