Chilliwack is joining its municipal neighbours in adopting Alertable to get the word out to residents, businesses and even visitors in critical events like a fire or flood.

The notifications can come by text, email, phone, website, mobile app, or home smart speaker.

鈥淜nowing where to find information during an emergency is an important part of emergency preparedness for every household,鈥� said Chilliwack Mayor Ken Popove. 鈥淭his new app will allow us to increase our communication with residents during emergencies, and I would encourage anyone who lives, works, or visits Chilliwack to sign up for alerts.鈥�

Alertable is a made-in-Canada app for community notifications that sends out public alerts, and was used extensively by various local governments in the Fraser Valley floods of 2021, like the Fraser Valley Regional District.

Council approved a new public alerting policy, D-25, for Chilliwack at the April 18 council meeting.

What criteria will be used for an alert to be issued? The event must be deemed 鈥渦rgent, severe, certain and local,鈥� and alerts are authorized by designated director and team of Chilliwack鈥檚 Emergency Operations Centre.

鈥淏ecause nearby organizations already use Alertable, the City of Chilliwack already has over 5,500 subscribers subscribed to receive alerts in the area,鈥� said Jamie Leggatt, director of communications, in her presentation to council.

New subscribers can sign up and they can personalize notifications by type and severity, by location and other options.

Coun. Chris Kloot called the advanced technology used by Alertable 鈥渁 welcome addition to our community.鈥�

Mayor Popove commented at the end of the council discussion: 鈥淚 am done with disasters. This will be a great tool for the toolbox, but I hope we don鈥檛 have to use it.鈥�

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