B.C. is expanding the use of its wireless emergency alerts to include imminent threats from floods and wildfires, the province's public safety minister announced Tuesday.
"We're finding our province at risk like never before from the effects of climate change," Farnworth said during a news conference. "In many ways, British Columbia is on the front lines of climate change in Canada and it's clear we all need to do more to keep our communities safe."
The notifications come through Alert Ready, a national system used to improve public safety in the event of emergencies. Currently, they're used in B.C. for tsunami warnings and Amber Alerts. The alerting system is ready to be used for imminent flood risk and will be expanded by early June to include wildfire threats.for not using the emergency-alert system during a series of catastrophic storms that closed highways and flooded several parts of the province. "We didn’t want to alarm the whole city," Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said at the time.
A test alert will be sent out on Wednesday at 1:55 p.m. During that test, an alert will be broadcast on radio and TV stations. It'll also be sent out on compatible cellphones. The text on those tests will read: "This is a TEST of the British Columbia Emergency Alerting System, issued by Emergency Management British Columbia. This is ONLY a TEST. If this had been an actual emergency or threat, you would now hear instructions that would assist you to protect you and your family. For further information, go to: www.emergencyinfobc.gov.bc.ca. This is ONLY a TEST, no action is required.
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