The City of Kamloops has begun its one-year trial of the Voyent Alert emergency notification system.

Communications Supervisor, Kristen Rodrigue, is urging people who have not yet signed up to do so. They can do so either on the mobile app which will provide notifications based on their location or through a web-based registration process, if you prefer to get notifications by email, texts, or phone.

“For the first six months of our trial, we are committed to using it for emergency and critical incident notification, so if there is a wildfire or a flood. Also, if we have any unplanned water disruptions like a water main break. we’ll be using it for that,” Rodrigue said.

“Following that six months, if that is successful, we may roll it out to other uses as well.”

Those additional uses could include things like road closures, election information, and community events, though people will have the ability to opt in or opt out at any time.

The City of Kamloops signed the year-long agreement with Voyent Alert after the Juniper East Fire last summer, after concerns from residents about the lack of communication from City officials.

Over the 2021 summer wildfire season, the City then used the TNRD’s Voyent account on two occasions – Aug. 5 and Aug. 15 – to notify Kamloops residents about evacuation alerts in place for their neighbourhoods. It was also used to rescind those notifications on Aug. 7 and Aug. 17.

“With the wildfires last year, we were piggy backing on the TNRD’s account to send alerts and anybody who registered with the TNRD last year and had a location registered within the City of Kamloops boundaries has automatically been added to the City of Kamloops account,” Rodrigue added, noting there are about 16,000 such accounts.

“It allows us to push communication out to residents whereas all of our other tools require residents to come to us. Voyent is also geofenced, so say your home is in Aberdeen, and there is an incident downtown, if you’re driving through downtown and enter into an alert zone, you will receive that notification on your phone if your location service is activated.”

There will be a test alert coming in the next month or so, with Rodrigue also telling NL News that staff will be assessing the service to see if it should be continued once the trial period is up.

“One of the great things about this system is you do not have to own a smartphone to use it,” she noted. “You can have a landline with no internet access and still get emergency alerts if you choose to register that way.”

To register for Voyent Alert, go here.