PRINCE GEORGE, BC: The City of Prince George joins the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George in their Public Alerting System (PAS). The Regional District launched a PAS to notify citizens of evacuation alerts and evacuation orders in 2017, and the City of Prince George has now joined that system to improve safety notification in the city.

When emergencies like severe weather, floods or wildfires happen, all registered contacts in that area will receive texts, voice calls or emails with public safety notifications and evacuation alerts and orders.

The PAS is free for all citizens in the regional district and city of Prince George. Citizens enter their name, email address, phone numbers, and identify which zones they need alerts in to receive the alerts. Citizens can choose as many zones that are applicable to them. Citizens can sign up for the alert system on the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George’s website.

Tanya Spooner, City of Prince George emergency programs manager, stated, “Joining the regional district in this system makes so much sense for the safety of our citizens because emergencies don’t obey municipal boundaries. We strongly encourage every citizen to sign up for these alerts.”

“In emergency situations, time is of the essence, and the public alerting system allows us to get critical information to residents much faster than relying on traditional methods,” says Meredith Burmaster, manager of Community Services with the Regional District.  “Safety is our number one concern, so this will help us get critical information faster to the people who need it most.”

The PAS is used by the City of Prince George and the Regional District to deliver notifications of emergency situations, and evacuation alerts and orders. This is not the same as Alert Ready which is used by the federal and provincial governments and delivers alerts on large-scale situations through television, radio and LTE-connected and compatible wireless devices.

Written and released by City of Prince George