File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

VOYENT ALERT!

TNRD’s Voyent Alert! seeing increased usage as fire season wanes

Aug 19, 2024 | 6:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — With the downgrading of the Shetland Creek wildfire to ‘being held,’ and evacuation alerts lifted, the situation has calmed inside the Thompson Nicola Regional District’s (TNRD) Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in Kamloops.

While the summer has been quieter than years past, the regional district was still required to push out several evacuation alerts and orders in relation to the Dunn Creek fire in the North Thompson and the Shetland Creek blaze near Spences Bridge and Ashcroft. The main method officials have done so is through the Voyent Alert! app, which has seen increased usage.

“When we look at the fires that we have put out Voyent notices for, between the Shetland Creek and Dunn Creek fires, we have had about 369 addressed properties in those areas and we’ve had about just under 2,400 (2,391) devices receive Voyent Alert! That could be local residents and it’s likely a mix of locals and other people who may have family or friends in the area,” said TNRD Communications Manager Colton Davies.

Before fire season, just shy of 14,000 people were signed up to receive notifications through the app, with that number increasing by more than 2,100 this summer. Still, the regional district is looking for more people to utilize the service as it’s the quickest way to receive up to date information in the event of an emergency.

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“As much as we can, we use Voyent for all aspects of things that we do in our EOC during an emergency,” said Davies. “If somebody calls and asks, ‘How will you let me know I’m on alert?’ we’ll say, ‘You can find all the up-to-date information on our website, our social media, you can get these email updates, but the easiest way is to have Voyent Alert! out of those. And it just takes a few minutes to sign up for (the service). And of course, if you are on an order, we would issue all the same notifications to you and you would have the physical presence to let you know an order has been issued in your area.”