Beaver Emergency Services Commission

Police, Fire, Ambulance - Call 911

Seven Things to Tell the Operator When You Need Help:

1. Who you need - Police, Fire or Ambulance
2. Where you need the help (your address - legal land description- rural address)
3. A phone number they can call you on in case of disconnection
4. What is happening now
5. How did it happen
6. When did it happen
7. Your name

Helpful Hints:

• Teach everyone in your family how to make emergency calls.
• If you accidentally call 911, stay on the line so the operator knows that help is not needed; otherwise, the operator will notify the Police to investigate.

Have the following information by your phone:

• The 911 number
• Your address
• Your phone number
• Directions to your home from the Police Station and Fire Hall

Emergency Phone Numbers

• Poison Centre: 1-800-332-1414
• Weather Information: (780) 875-7709
• Emergency Management Alberta: Toll free 310-0000 THEN 780-422-9000
• Environmental Accidents: 1-800-222-6514
• Natural Gas (ATCO) Concerns: 1-800-511-3447
• Power (FORTIS) Concerns: 310-9473

In some emergency situations it may become necessary to leave your home or business and move to a safe location. Planning ahead will help you cope.

Officials will make every effort to keep people informed if they are located in an area that is at risk. This may be done through telephone alert, local media or through door to door contact by emergency services personnel.

Preparing to Evacuate:

• Make arrangements for pets. Animals will not be allowed in reception centers.
• Listen to a local radio station for the location of reception centers. (Reception Centers are centrally located evacuation locations)
• Follow the instructions provided by local authorities. Emergency Telephone Numbers are to be used only for emergency situations.

Things to do When Evacuating:

• Vacate your home when advised - ignoring a warning may jeopardize your safety.
• Wear season appropriate protective clothing and comfortable walking shoes.
• Leave a note for your family saying when you departed and where you went.
• Take your Family Emergency supply kit 
• Lock your house.
• Follow the routes specified by officials. Do not take shortcuts.
• Notify your Family Contact of your location and condition.

Home Emergency Survival Kit, suitable for Evacuation:

• Flashlight and extra batteries
• Battery-powered radio and extra batteries
• First-aid kit
• Candles and matches/lighter
• Extra car/house keys and cash (including coins/cards for public telephones)
• Important papers (identification for everyone, personal documents)
• Food and bottled water
• Clothing and footwear (one change of clothes per person)
• Blankets and sleeping bags (one blanket or sleeping bag per person)
• Toilet paper and other personal supplies
• Medication
• Backpack/duffel bag (or something else to carry the emergency survival kit, in case you have to evacuate)
• Whistle (in case you need to attract someone's attention)
• Playing cards, games

Car Emergency Survival Kit:

• Shovel
• Sand, salt or kitty litter
• Traction mats
• Tow chain
• Compass
• Cloth rags or roll of paper towel
• Work gloves
• Warning light or road flares
• Extra clothing and footwear
• Emergency food pack
• Axe or hatchet
• Booster cables
• Ice scraper and brush
• Road maps
• Matches and a "survival" candle in a deep coffee can (to warm hands, heat a drink or use as an emergency light)
• Fire extinguisher
• Methyl Hydrate or Isopropyl Alcohol (for fuel line and windshield de-icing)
• Flashlight with extra batteries
• First-aid kit with seatbelt cutter
• Blanket (look for special "survival" blankets)

Personal Preparedness

Disaster can strike quickly and without warning. It can force you to evacuate your neighbourhood or confine you to your home. What would you do if you did not have water, gas, electricity or telephones after a major emergency? To ensure the safety and well-being of you and your family, you should prepare now to take care of your own basic needs for at least the first 72 hours (link to list in preparedness) following a major disaster.

If a disaster strikes, remember to:

• Remain calm and patient. Put your plan into action.
• Listen to your battery-powered radio or television for news and instructions from local authorities.
• Evacuate, if advised to do so. Wear season appropriate protective clothing and sturdy shoes.
• Use flashlights. Do not use matches, lighters or turn on electrical switches.
• Call your family contact
• Check on your neighbours, especially elderly or disabled persons.
• Make sure you have an adequate water supply in case water service is cut off.
• Stay away from downed power lines.
• Confine or secure your pet.

Additional information is available at  http://www.getprepared.gc.ca/index-eng.aspx.

Farm and livestock preparedness information is available at https://www.alberta.ca/farm-animals-and-livestock-preparedness.aspx

Home Preparedness Plan

Develop your own emergency plan.

• At least once a year, have a meeting with family members or housemates to design and/or update a plan for how each person will respond during an emergency.
• Draw a floor plan of your home, showing the location of exits (windows and doors), utility shut offs, first aid kits, emergency supplies, tools, clothing, etc. Make sure that each person is familiar with the plan.
• Become familiar with the disaster policies and plans at your children's schools and your spouse's or partner(s) workplace.
• Make/update a list of key addresses and phone numbers and ensure that each family member has a copy. Remember to caution everyone that the phone should only be used during an emergency if there is an urgent need to contact the police, the fire department, emergency medical personnel, utility companies, children's schools, etc.

Pick two meeting places:

• One meeting place should be near your home or business in case of a local sudden emergency, like a fire.
• A second meeting place should be chosen so that people will meet if they can not return to your home or business.

Arrange for a contact that lives out of the area. Family members can phone the contact and leave or receive messages. This will help keep everyone aware of the situation.

Other preparedness tips:

• Have at least a three-day supply of food and water on hand. Choose ready-to-eat foods that your family likes, and choose food that doesn't need refrigeration.
• Water - plan to have on hand at least four litres per person per day, two litres for drinking and two for food preparation, hygiene and dish washing.
• Food - canned food: soups, stews, baked beans, pasta, meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, fruits; or dry goods: crackers and biscuits; honey, peanut butter, syrup, jam, salt & pepper, sugar, instant coffee, tea. Replace canned food and dry goods once a year.
• Equipment - knives, forks, spoons; disposable cups and plates; manual can opener, bottle opener; fuel stove and fuel (follow manufacturer's instructions, and don't use a barbeque indoors); waterproof matches and plastic garbage bags.

Protect Your Home

• Lawn furniture, trash cans, children's toys, garden equipment, clotheslines, hanging plants and any other objects that may fly around and damage property should be brought indoors.
• Leave trees and shrubs alone. If you did not cut away dead or diseased branches or limbs from trees and shrubs, leave them alone - do not do it now.
• Turn off BBQ propane gas tanks. Propane tanks often become dislodged in disasters.
• If high winds are expected, cover the outside of all windows of your home. Use shutters that are rated to provide significant protection from windblown debris, or fit plywood coverings over all windows. Tape does not prevent windows from breaking and is not recommended.
• If flooding is expected, consider using sand bags to keep water away from your home. It takes two people about one hour to fill and place 100 sandbags, giving you a wall one foot high and 20 feet long. Make sure you have enough sand, burlap or plastic bags, shovels, strong helpers and time to place them properly.

Protect Your Valuables

• Move television sets, computers, stereos, electronic equipment and easily moveable appliances to higher levels of your home and away from windows. Wrap them in sheets, blankets or burlap.
• Make a visual or written record of all of your household possessions. List model and serial numbers. Include expensive items such as sofas, chairs, tables, beds, chests, wall units and any other furniture too heavy to move. Consider storing the list in a safety deposit box.

While all utilities companies strive to maintain their services, from time to time there are events that interrupt that service.

Things to do in a power outage:
Check with your neighbours to see if they have electricity.

• If it is a neighbourhood power outage, unplug all appliances to avoid damage from a possible power surge when the power is restored. Shut off all lights except one to signal the return of power. Shut off computer equipment.
• If your service has been interrupted contact FORTIS (310-9473); see link to Emergency Phone Numbers.
• Report all downed power lines to FORTIS and 911. Remember - downed wires are live so stay away from them.
• Turn on your battery powered radio and tune it to a local radio station.
• If your home is the only one in the neighbourhood without power, the problem could be in your residence. Contact FORTIS or a certified journeyman electrician for assistance.
• Natural gas furnaces Contact ATCO for information, 1-800-511-3447 or a certified journeyman plumber/ gasfitter.
• Be aware that food in freezers may thaw during extended power outages.
• Do not use the telephone during a disaster situation; you may tie up the phone lines.

Shelter in place is the practice of going and remaining indoors during the release of an airborne material or other situation, as opposed to evacuating the area.

Why shelter in place is a good defense:
Shelter in Place has been shown to be a safe response to a airborne material release of three hours or less.

Things to do to shelter in place:

• Go indoors and stay there
• Close all outside doors and every door inside the building
• Close all windows
• Do not use bathroom vents or kitchen vents
• Set thermostats so air conditioners, furnaces and hot water heaters will not come on
• Do not use fireplaces. Close all dampers
• Do not operate clothes dryer
• Shelter in an inside room away from windows and doors if possible
• Reduce or avoid smoking as it contaminates the air
• Do not leave the building until told to do so
• Use the telephone only in the event of an emergency; you may tie up the phone lines
• Stay tuned to local television or radio for information

Things to do for added protection:

• Seal the cracks around the doorway with wide tape and a rolled up damp towel at the floor space.
• If there is a window, tape a piece of plastic over the window to seal it.
• Be prepared ahead of time by cutting a piece of plastic to the window size and storing it and some tape in your Shelter in Place.
• It is imperative you stay indoors, especially if you see a cloud, vapour or smoke from the airborne material. You will be safer inside. Stay tuned to local television or radio for information.

Things to do if you are in a vehicle and encounter an airborne material release:

• Move away from the "danger area" and avoid visible clouds.
• Turn on your radio and follow all instructions from emergency services personnel. If it is a flammable material you will be required to shut off your vehicle and evacuate the area.
• Close all windows and air vents. Shut off the heater or air conditioner so that it is not blowing air.

There are a variety of potential emergencies that may cause difficulties for the citizens of Beaver County and surrounding area. Awareness of these events is a starting point to becoming prepared.

Events that can cause problems

• Thunderstorms
• Hail
• Heavy snowfall
• 
• Lightning
• 
• Tornadoes
• Blizzards
• Heavy rainfall
• Strong Winds
• Severe Cold Weather
• Flooding
• Extreme Hot Weather
• 
• Hazardous Materials Accident
• Loss of Utilities
• Human Error
•