Shortly after 5:00 Saturday evening, phones across Prince George lit up with an emergency alert warning of a gas leak, but not all of them.
At around 2:11 pm on Saturday, Prince George Fire Rescue responded to a home on the 300 block of Carrier Place, following reports of a gas odour.
High levels of natural gas were detected in and around the home, and the surrounding blocks were evacuated, with emergency alerts being sent out.
According to a City of Prince George spokesperson, local officials can request an emergency alert, but it is the province who pushes the alert.
To send an alert, three criteria must be met:
- There is a threat to human life,
- The threat is immediate,
- There are recommended actions that may save lives.
These alerts are sent by different agencies, depending on emergency.
For instance, for floodings and wildfire evacuations, the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness would send alerts at the request of a local government, First Nation, partner agency, or the province.
The BC RCMP can independently or at the request of local police for incidents such as Amber Alerts or civil emergencies like dangerous persons events.
These alerts can be sent to cell phones only, radio and TV only, or all three together.
According to the province, to receive emergency alerts, a cell phone must be:
- Wireless Public Alerting (WPA) compatible,
- Have the latest version of operating software,
- Connected on an LTE cellular network while the emergency alert is active.
Additionally, the province says cell phones can have different user settings that can effect how an emergency alert is received and these settings vary between models.
In addition, cell towers outside of the impacted area may extend outside of the intended boundaries of the emergency alert, meaning some cell phones outside of the impacted area.
Residents in Prince George can also sign up for the City and Regional District’s public alerting system.
On Saturday, a text alert was sent out to residents in the yellow and orange zones.
The City spokesperson also noted emergency professionals went door to door in the impacted neighbourhood to ensure everyone got out safety.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
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