Burnaby's Chevron refinery is hoping the city will consider an opt-in notification system to alert residents in case of emergencies.
Chevron has been eyeing a system already in place on the North Shore and is discussing options with the City of Burnaby. An emergency notification system is something residents in the refinery area have asked for in the past.
"We're continuing to work with (our community advisory panel), and this has been an issue we've talked about with our CAP for a long time. We are in the process of researching possible options for Burnaby," said Chevron spokesperson Ray Lord.
Chevron has been talking with the North Shore Emergency Management Office about their notification system, which can send out emergency alerts and updates to large groups of people through a number of mediums: phone, text message, email or pager, for instance. The computerized system automatically calls homes and business in the affected area with a message explaining the problem and advice on how to stay safe. The calls are tracked, and if no one answers, the system will call again. People
who have a landline are already part of the notification list, but those who don't can self-register.
Lord thinks something similar may work for all of Burnaby, not just the Chevron refinery. The company is in discussions with the city and has offered to foot part of the bill.
"We've expressed an interest in participating with funding such a system if it were ever to work or be determined to be a good tool to be used in Burnaby," Lord said.
"Our understanding is that the technology is available. It's just a matter of finding what would work here, and would it work here effectively."
Lord pointed out that Chevron already subscribes to an incident command system, which involves local authorities and includes alerting the public, but automated notifications could be another option.
"It would be one other tool that could be used. They aren't the perfect systems, but they can be used in conjunction with some of the other existing things that are in place at the moment," he said. "We'd like to work with the city and the various regulatory agencies to explore potentially putting one in place."
Deputy city manager Chad Turpin said Burnaby is very interested, but it's hard to keep up with emerging technology.
"What seems to happen is the technology changes so quickly. You start to investigate one system and six months later, another one comes up that seems more viable. We are still in the process of looking at different systems, so nothing has been sent to council in the form of a report or recommendation or anything along those lines.
"It's still at the investigation stage, but the city is certainly very interested and very interested in what Chevron's (suggesting)."
Turpin said if something were put in place, it would have to work for the entire city.
"Chevron and their (community advisory panel) group are really focused on that area of Burnaby. If we get something in place, we're going to have to focus on the city as a whole."
The next step is for city staff to make a recommendation to council, but Turpin isn't sure when that will happen.
r "We've been working on it for a long, long time, like years," he said. "With the technology changing so fast we're concerned about putting something in that might not be as effective if we waited a little while longer."
Turpin said it's an important issue for everyone.
"We've had fires down in the Big Bend and trains going along, with stuff in the cars there that could sometimes be hazardous material, so it's important for the whole community."
For more on this story or to check out the North Shore's system, go to Jennifer Moreau's blog, Community Conversations, at www. burnabynow.com.
