(CFJC Today/File photo).

By Aaron Schulze

Emergency App

Kamloops begins one-year trial with Voyent Alert! emergency app

Aug 31, 2021 | 4:09 PM

KAMLOOPS — The City of Kamloops will begin its one-year trial with the Voyent Alert! smartphone application in late fall.

Voyent Alert! is a multi-purpose and multi-platform communication tool to be used in an emergency. The app was used twice by the City on Aug. 5 when the Barnhartvale, Campbell Creek and Dallas areas were put on evacuation alert due to the White Rock Lake wildfire, and Aug. 15 for the Pineview Valley, Iron Mask and Versatile Industrial Park areas due to the nearby Tremont Creek wildfire.

The City’s trial period use of Voyent Alert! will be different than when they used the Thompson-Nicola Regional District’s (TNRD) account. Kamloops Communications Supervisor Kristen Rodrigue said during the Aug. 31 council meeting that Voyent Alert! had technical challenges due to the TNRD’s account having different traffic needs than the city.

“Our IT team left the meeting feeling very confident in Voyent’s ability to meet the needs of the City through our own account and rated them as 15-out-of-10 for their technical process and subject matter expertise,” Rodrigue said. “Piggy-backing on the TNRD’s system allowed us to get up and running quite quickly during an unprecedented fire season, but it’s not the desired long-term solution.”

Nearly 7,000 notifications were sent to residents for the White Rock Lake wildfire information update. Rodrigue says that is more than 50 per cent of the TNRD’s entire subscription base. She adds the City “basically crashed” the system when they issued the updates.

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Rodrigue says the ongoing subscription cost for Voyent Alert! is $15,000 per year. The City will pay a one-time cost of $5,000 for training in 2021. A budget of up to $20,000 is also available for promotional reasons if necessary.

The City’s evaluation of the Voyent Alert! trial will be based on user feedback and experience, technical performance and usability for administrators. Rodrigue says the City has been testing internally.

The Kamloops East Interface Fire near Juniper Ridge and Valleyview elevated the need for timely notification to residents in an emergency event.