Strathmore Emergency Alerts gets a facelift

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The local emergency alert system has undergone an overhaul and now has a new face, as well as a new name. 

Strathmore Emergency Alerts is now powered by a provider called Voyent Alert! which, according to Strathmore Fire Department Chief David Sturgeon, is a noticeable upgrade for the town.

“I don’t have the whole history on how the Strathmore Emergency Alerts were sent out in the past, but basically they were using a company and we’ve just changed the provider to what is now Voyent Alert, from the old alerting system,” said Sturgeon.

“Basically, the reason for it was that the old company was a US based company and their ease of use and level of service wasn’t quite what we were after.”

Part of the goal of changing the service was to not only make it easier to use, but also to provide more peace of mind to those who use it.

This, on top of now being powered by a Canadian provider, over the previous American provider using a Canadian server. 

“The layout should be a lot nicer; it should be easier to read, especially if they opt in to use the app … It’s just a user-friendly service that is way easier to understand and get the message out,” said Sturgeon.

Folks who opt into the service can have alerts provided either via email, text or through the app.

Another bonus of the new service, Sturgeon added, is that contrary to the former, it does not ask clients for personal information outside of what is absolutely necessary to provide the service.

“If you want to receive a text, you have to give your phone number, if you want to receive an email you have to give your email, but outside of that, you don’t have to give your name, your address, you don’t have to give your birthday.”

“You don’t have to give any of that (personal information) and it was specifically made easy so that people can feel comfortable signing up for the service and that we are not collecting a bunch of personal information.”

A feature of the newly improved service will allow emergency messages to be sent out much faster and will be able to be sent from field locations as opposed to solely from the station.

Strathmore Emergency Alerts will also not distribute the same emergency messages as are released by Environment Canada so as to eliminate redundancy.

“We’re not going to try and recreate other messages … the time that we’re going to get involved is if it’s actually something that is immediately going to threaten the community,” said Sturgeon.

Though the service is not often used, Sturgeon said there are scenarios where it is needed, and it is better to have the service available rather than not.

“For the cost of the service and the ability to get out messages quickly … this could be the difference between people getting the information they need and having to go through a third party.”

Instructions and further details about the service and app can be found on the Town website.