Province to test wireless alert system this afternoon

Your cellular phone or mobile device may be about to give you a reminder about emergency preparedness and where you will be able to access information should a situation requiring emergency notification take place.

1:55 PM is the scheduled time for the test of the Alert Ready service, which will deliver text messaging alerts to British Columbians.

In preparation for this afternoon's test,  Jennifer Rice, Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Preparedness offered up a few notes on the project.

“Today, we’re testing the new wireless alerting system for the first time as part of our commitment to improving our emergency management system in the province ... Today’s test also serves as a reminder to British Columbians about the importance of emergency preparedness, including understanding the risks where they live and work, creating an emergency plan, and assembling an emergency kit for their workplace, home and vehicles.”

The project will deliver a text message to British Columbians that will read as follows:

“This is a TEST of the British Columbia Emergency Alerting System, issued by Emergency Management British Columbia. This is ONLY a TEST. If this had been an actual emergency or threat, you would now hear instructions that would assist you to protect you and your family. For further information go to www.emergencyinfobc.gov.bc.ca. This is ONLY a TEST, no action is required.”

In order to receive alerts, mobile phones must be connected to a cellular network, be alert-compatible and within the alert area. Alerts will be broadcast automatically, at no cost to the user.

You can learn more about the Alert Ready system here

More background on what the province hopes that residents will take away from today's test can be reviewed here.

The City of Prince Rupert provided the following notes on the test for today through their Facebook page on Tuesday.

The City also has plans to test their own local system as some point in the coming months.

Further items related to the Provincial Government can be found on our Legislative archive page here.

For a look at the work of Emergency Responders in the Northwest see our archive page here.

Update:  Here's how the test worked out on the North Coast Review's cellular device at 1:55 PM