Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality (SPMRM) encourages residents and visitors to download an emergency communications app, helping save them time and ensuring people have the information they need to stay safe.
Voyent Alert! is a free multi-purpose communication tool that allows for quick alerts sent right to your phone. The municipality can triangulate addresses that are impacted when an emergency strikes, whether it’s a wildfire, landslide or a boil water advisory. When someone signs up, they receive alerts based on the address they input into the app. Dean Schiavon, Sun Peaks Fire Rescue chief, explained why the municipality uses the system.
“Sometimes we need to get the word out and with our limited resources on the ground, it might be difficult to do that,” Schiavon said. “Having another option, such as Voyent Alert, helps.”
The app will bolster existing emergency notification programs, like B.C.’s Alert Ready. However, Schiavon explained Alert Ready is limited in scope.
“The Alert Ready service is very limited on what we as a municipality can send out,” he said. “We can only send out things for high-risk flood and wildfire, evacuations, extreme heat emergencies or tsunami warnings.”
The municipality started using the system in 2021 during the Embleton Mountain wildfire, and there are around 1700 subscribers to local alerts.
Schiavon would like to see that number increase as new staff flock to the village. It will also ensure people are quickly informed about public health information, like boil water advisories.
Over the last few weeks in October and November, there have been a number of boil water advisories due to waterline work in the west village. While SPMRM posts notices on its website, on people’s doors, through email subscriptions and on social media, Voyent Alert! gives push notifications.
Users can register for whatever communication method works best for them – the app, text message, email or voice calls to smartphones and landlines.
The app can even alert users who cross into an area with an emergency as they travel throughout the province, provided the jurisdiction uses it, Schiavon said. The Thompson-Nicola Regional District uses the service, so it will be effective when travelling regionally.
He also suggests checking the app periodically in case it needs an update.
Clint Burton, director of infrastructure for SPMRM, explained the notices are also specific to severity, with emergency notifications coming through as red graphics and important information coded yellow.
Burton programs the app with information sent to registered people. He schedules the notice to go out to users ahead of time for informational notices, whereas emergency information from Schiavon would be uploaded as needed.
Information is personalized, down to evacuation routes and the direction of a threat in relation to your home.
Burton added users can also select whatever information they deem relevant to them, personalizing their alerts.
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