In preparation for the upcoming wildfire season, the Strathcona Regional District will be testing its emergency notification system throughout the month of June.
People need to sign up to the system in order to receive notifications. The regional district will be testing in different communities on different days. The system, run by Connect Rocket, uses voice and text messages sent to mobile devices within cell coverage areas, and voice messages sent to landlines. There are 17 different community lists, but not all will be tested this time around.
“Provided that there is access to the internet, we would use this service to notify residents within the different communities of the region,” said SRD protective services coordinator Shaun Koopman. “When we test the system or use it in the event of a real emergency, residents will receive a text message, landline voice message, and cell phone voice message for notifications.”
Communities included in this test are Cortes Island, Monday June 15, Quadra Island, Wednesday June 17, Zeballos, Friday June 19, Tahsis, Monday June 22, Campbell River, Wednesday June 24, and Gold River, Friday June 26. All tests will occur at 1:30 p.m.
If people are signed up for multiple community lists they will receive notifications from each community.
The remaining community lists will be tested in October in preparation for the winter storm season.
To sign up for a community list or to update contact information, people are asked to visit http://strathconard.connectrocket.com or to call 250-830-6702.
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