Saskatoon ready to test NotifyNOW emergency alert

Saskatoon City Hall is gearing up for atest on Wednesday morning.

Officials will send test alert messages to citizens using its newNotifyNOW system. The mass-notification system costs $36,000 a year, and sends out emergency warning messages by text, phone, and email. Once a message has been issued, officials can monitor how many of the intended recipients it's reached.

The alerts are intended to send information in situations ranging from evacuations to chemical spills, targeting specific neighbourhoods and areas that encounter "life safety issues", according to Saskatoon's director of emergency planning, Ray Unrau.

"If you are getting [alerts], it is because either your house or something that you've registered in the system is being affected," Unrau said. "If you get something on your phone after you've registered, the reason you've gotten it is because it's affecting you."

So far, 2,500 citizens have logged onto the city's websiteto enrol for alertsvoluntarily. Most have indicated they'd like them sentby e-mail or by text.

"We drastically want to improve that," said Unrau. "We want that number to be as large as possible to be the most effective system."

Unrau said Saskatoon is the largest community in Canada to sign up for this system. Estevan, Lloydminster and Weyburnare already using it.