CBS alert system was invaluable, says Gosse

By Craig Westcott

Now that the smoke has settled, one thing is becoming clearer to the people who look after emergency services with the Town of CBS; more households need to sign on to the Town’s resident alert program.
Deputy Mayor Andrea Gosse said it was the best way to reach residents during the fire emergencies and evacuation alerts in Seal Cove and the east end of CBS last month.
“It’s something that we’ve had for years and it’s a voluntary signup which will give you a message to your phone or an e-mail message,” said Gosse. “We typically use it for water main breaks and water shut offs. A lot of people weren’t signed up for it. But that was the most effective way of communicating to the residents. It gave them the information as it was available. I think that’s a really important message because there were all sorts of messaging on social media, as you can imagine. But we encourage people to get it directly from our resident alert program, which is important.”
During the emergency, the Town sent out phone messages at the beginning of the day and in the evening to keep people informed so that they would have a level of comfort. Gosse said the Town got a lot of positive feedback on the service, especially from older residents.
“Not everyone is on social media, so while the Town has a great social media presence, this was different, because it came to your phone, your home line, your cell phone, or e-mail, whatever you subscribed to,” she said. “During the first day or so when we had nothing to report, people were wondering, and so we said even if we put it out ‘There is no change,’ people will feel informed and it will give them a comfort level, because uncertainty is where you get anxiety and people get frustrated and nervous, and it’s a hard enough time as it is.”
Coincidentally, the resident alert system came into play again last week after the town suffered a severe water shortage due to a break in the water line coming from Bay Bulls Big Pond. The situation sparked another state of emergency, this one actually worse than the ones during the fire period, as it affected all of CBS and closed most businesses while crews from the City of St. John’s scrambled to repair the rupture, which was located on City land.
Gosse said staff are gathering data on how many people have subscribed to the system.