Major wildfires in northern Saskatchewan this summer were a vivid reminder of the importance of good communication around public safety issues.
On Wednesday, Sept. 16, Town of Creighton administrator Paula Muench, along with Meredith Norman, administrator of the Northern Village of Denare Beach, and Carl Lentowicz, Denare Beach mayor, received training on an emergency public alerting program called SaskAlert.
Muench explained this system “gives municipalities the jurisdiction to issue a warning” to the public.
Through SaskAlert, Creighton and Denare Beach administrators can now inform residents of any event that could harm people or damage property.
Messages could range from evacuation notices to public information related to a weather event, such as locations to pick up sandbags in a flood situation and clean-up plans after a destructive storm, to health concerns such as boil-water advisories or announcements of hazardous waste spills.
A local test alert was broadcast on CFAR on Wednesday afternoon.
Advisories can be broadcast on radio, television and on the SaskAlert website (which will be relaunched in January) at www.saskalert.sask.ca.
