Town exploring options for emergency situations

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

Warnings of tennis ball-sized hail, winds exceeding 120 km an hour, and images of funnel clouds twice within two weeks highlighted the absence of an emergency warning system currently available in Strathmore, and compelled the town staff and council to discuss options on Aug. 19.
A tornado warning was in effect for Wheatland County and Strathmore on July 22 and Aug. 5, when several funnel clouds emerged over the City of Calgary and near Langdon. Without any way to publicly warn Strathmore citizens, the town is now looking at installing a siren or collaborating with telephone service providers to send out messages to each household or cell phones during an emergency.
“We should have some kind of warning system, for example if there’s a tornado coming, there’s a tornado a few minutes away, what should we be doing and how do we notify the public?” said Chief Administrative Officer Dwight Stanford. “I think it’s important that we have some kind of system. Years ago we used to, I don’t know in town here, but many towns years ago had sirens on them so they could warn people. But with the weather the last year or two, and the kind of storms we’re getting, I think it’s important that we take a good look at it.”
Administration is currently working together with an expert in emergency management with the province to find out the retail cost, installation cost, and how to use the siren effectively. While the system would be effective not only for weather related emergencies, but other also for situations such as chemical spills, some councillors were concerned about how to communicate with the public properly and avoid panic.
“I’m curious as to why so many towns went away from that,” said Councillor Bob Sobol. “I suspect, that the reason that so many towns went away from it, is that there’s simply no message being given to any of our residents when a siren goes off. And it’s conceivable that the call of a siren could actually send people in the wrong direction than where you want them to go. At the end of the day is something better than nothing? The flaw I see with this siren system is that when it goes off nobody knows what it’s for.”
Stanford added that if a system was in place with the communication service providers, the mayor could access the system and warn residents about the situation at hand. The siren would then signal to the community to check their house phones or cellular devices.
Councillor Pat Fule, who was contacted by a resident through social media about implementing an emergency warning system in the town, agreed that the system needs to be straight-forward.
“I think following Councillor Sobol’s comment, if you were to have a siren system you probably want to limit it so that people knew that if the siren went off it was specifically for one type of situation that they should get more information about and get to safety,” said Councillor Pat Fule.
“I definitely think that it’d be confusing if you had too many things associated with the siren.”
Administration acknowledged that the topic had been discussed a couple years ago and some general information had been obtained; however, they will work on gathering more information to bring back to council.