The 108 Mile Volunteer Fire Department is reactivating their air siren at the Fire Hall.
Cariboo Regional District Manager of Communications, Kat Chatten said it’s going to be used between 8 am and 8 pm when the fire department receives a call.
Volunteer firefighters respond to a wide variety of calls including automatic fire alarm activations, lift assists for BC Emergency Health Services, motor vehicle incidents, structure fires, and many other emergency situations.
“Air raid sirens are sometimes associated with public announcements so we’re just trying to make it really clear that it’s just a nostalgic feature that the fire department uses and it is in no way part of any sort of public alert system,” Chatten said.
She noted Volunteer Fire Departments are paged out using radio’s, pagers, software on their cell phones.
The CRD said because the siren is not relied upon to notify firefighters, it is only operating between 8 am and 8 pm, and it will not be used to notify the public of wildfires, evacuation alerts or orders, or any other emergency.
The CRD said if there is ever an emergency that requires the public to take action, information will be shared through their official emergency notification system Voyent Alert.
If you hear the siren, the fire department has received a call and firefighters have already been notified through their normal dispatch systems.
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