CityWest to implement Emergency Alert System by end of March

A new Alert System is about to appear on television screens for subscribers to CityWest Cable Television services as CityWest implements guidelines from the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission.

The CRTC has issued a mandate for broadcasters to participate in Canada's National Public Alerting System and as a carrier of those signals, CityWest is required to put in place an Emergency Alert system.

A notification process that will advise residents in the CityWest service area of any incidents requiring immediate attention in the community.

The system which is to be in operation by the end of the month, will get a test run on March 18th, when CityWest will test the Alert system operation by running simulated notices between the hours of 2 and 4 AM.

During that time period, those night owls or early risers will see on their screens a red background with text advising of the test to the area, the alert will remain in place for twenty seconds.

Once the system is in place, should there be an actual emergency messages related to civil emergency concerns such as earthquakes, tsunamis and industrial disasters to name a few will be broadcast with information provided from emergency services officials.

You can learn more about the program from this item from the CityWest website, for more information on developments from CityWest see our archive page here.