The tsunami warning that got some Greater Victoria residents scrambling for high ground was more muted on the Saanich Peninsula, but crews were on stand by just in case.
North Saanich fire chief John Trelford got the call at home early this morning and contacted the deputy chief. The fire department sent out an emergency alert to residents in low-lying areas of North Saanich, between 0 and 40 feet above sea level.
“If you lived at the top of Dean Park you would not have gotten the tsunami warning,” said Trelford.
Trelford said the emergency alert system is web-based, where he types in the desired message and decides whether to alert everyone in the District, or only residents in high-risk locations based on the address they provided during sign up. Only residents who sign up for these messages can receive them.
“Picture a Google Map, and you can just draw a band of what you want,” Trelford said.
If an evacuation were necessary, Trelford said, affected areas would be divided into a grid. Every fire apparatus would go and start warning people near Madrona Drive, the bottom of Land’s End Rd. and other low-lying areas. In the event of liveaboard vessels, Trelford said it might be necessary to use P.A. systems to warn them. However, no emergency crews were dispatched today. Trelford got confirmation at about 4:18 a.m. that the tsunami had ended from Environment Canada. They sent out another mass notification saying the tsunami warning had ended.
The Town of Sidney sent out a text alert at 2:46 a.m. advising Sidney residents to steer clear of beaches and marine infrastructure, as well as a cancellation message around 4 a.m. once they received the all-clear from Emergency Management B.C.
Sidney emergency crews were about to fan out and knock on doors and liveaboard vessels, but they received the all-clear just as they were about to head out.
Sidney Fire chief Brett Mikkelsen decided a mass evacuation was not in the best interest of the Town at the time, but if such an evacuation were to happen, the Mary Winspear Centre or the SHOAL Centre would have been the two likeliest muster points.
Central Saanich fire chief Chris Vrabel said most callers this morning were wondering how to sign up for emergency text alerts because they woke up to the news. Vrabel said Central Saanich elected not to send out a mass notification because at the time, “the warning for the Peninsula was removed and focused mostly on the west coast [of Vancouver Island].”
However, Central Saanich firefighters were in the low-lying areas down in Island View Beach and Brentwood Bay this morning, “but it was more to see who was out and about and talk to them,” he said.
Vrabel was pleased with the actions of District staff and emergency services.
“District staff were here at the emergency operations centre, police and fire crews patrolling the low-lying areas, and our social media and municipal website had updates on it,” he said. He added that credible information was being broadcast on local radio.
He said the three mass notification systems on the Peninsula would soon be combined, which would allow any emergency manager in the three Peninsula municipalities to alert residents in Sidney, North Saanich, and Central Saanich, instead of keeping them to their own municipality.
If residents already signed up for emergency alerts with their municipality, there is no need to re-register for the new, combined notification system for the entire Peninsula, said Vrabel.
Sidney residents can sign up for notifications here: https://www.ermsadvantage.com/register/sidney/ToSResidents
North Saanich residents can sign up for notifications here: https://www.ermsadvantage.com/register/districtnorthsaanich/residents
Central Saanich residents can sign up for notifications here: https://www.centralsaanich.ca/node/894
reporter@peninsulanewsreview.com
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