The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor They were three simple digits that made Flin Flon a safer place to live. Next month marks the fifth anniversary of 911 emergency phone service in the community. Launched on March 4, 2008, the service removed the need for residents to memorize (or program into their phones) separate numbers for the police, fire department and ambulance. 'We feel that this could save lives,' Coun. Karen MacKinnon, chair of the city's Protective Services Committee, said at the time. Fire Chief Jim Petrie concurred. 'When people get panicky, they forget things _ it's a natural human (reaction),' he said. '911 is so easy to remember in an emergency.' Then-mayor Tom Therien, who made 911 a cornerstone of of his 2006 campaign, repeatedly spoke on the benefits of the service. 'It's a huge peace of mind if something goes wrong,' he said before 911 commenced. 'I mean, we've got three numbers to look up.' By 2008, 911 was so prevalent that people from other communities were often surprised when they learn Flin Flon had been going without. The arrival of 911 came several years after it was introduced in Creighton and a few months after it launched in Flin Flon, Saskatchewan. To get 911, the previous city council spent months working on the issue, jumping through the various hoops required. That included providing MTS with geographical information on the layout of the community. The need for 911 reached a crescendo in September 2006 when the city council led by Mayor Dennis Ballard reviewed a survey conducted in local schools the previous year. The disturbing results showed that just two of 541 youths knew the numbers to reach the RCMP, fire department and ambulance. The survey also found that only 10 students (1.8 per cent of the total) knew the number for the RCMP, 67 (12.4 per cent) for the fire department, and 234 (43.3 per cent) for the ambulance.
