SASKATOON – It is the largest evacuation in Albert’s history and, fortunately, no fatalities or serious injuries have been reported related to the out of control fires. That fact leaves some wondering how much of a role social media has played in helping to keep people safe.
On Thursday, the updates provided on the situation were grim. A total of 49 wildfires are burning in Alberta, the largest has consumed 85,000 hectares in the Fort McMurray region and is now bigger than the size of New York City.
“I thought it’s do or die, we just headed straight up through it and a transformer blew up next to us, flames were going over the road,” said one evacuee displaced by the wildfire.
“It was like hell, if you think of hell in a movie that’s what it was.”
FULL COVERAGE: Fort McMurray wildfire.
During a press conference, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley had a message for the tens of thousands who have had to flee.
“We have your backs,” she said.
“Overall more than 80,000 people have been evacuated since Tuesday, these are huge numbers to be dealing with and it’s a challenge to get an exact tally of how many people have been evacuated and where they have gone.”
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In many cases, those on the run have used the Facebook Safety Check Feature during this disaster.
“Not only do you want to know about people’s social lives, what’s going on in their family and post photos, you also want to know in certain situations if they’re safe.”
Minute by minute information has been shared on Twitter updating people on the situation. A hashtag #yymhelp has also been created for those in search of a place to sleep.
“It’s really filtering out all the information in the world to just the pieces that you need,” said Jones.
Red Cross officials credit technology and social media for taking a huge load off of call centres in this particular disaster but note that evacuees still need to register with the organization because that can’t be done through social media.
“If family members can’t get a hold of them at least if they’re registered they can find out where they’re staying,” said Cindy Fuchs, vice-president of Red Cross in Saskatchewan.
“The second reason is really important then they’re registered for any resources that government of Alberta or other service providers can provide to them for either the short-term or the long-term.”
READ MORE: Canadian Red Cross launches new emergency preparedness app
Half the battle in the event of a disaster is being prepared as far in advance as possible, which is why Saskatoon city officials encourage everyone to sign up for NotifyNow, a local emergency notification system.
“You can sign up for text message, email, voice whatever your preference is and what you’re going to find out is what to do, where to go and what to expect,” said Debbie Davies, emergency measures coordinator for the City of Saskatoon.
WATCH BELOW: Being prepared for an emergency
So far, 15,000 residents have signed up for the alert system, with notification narrowed down to a single neighbourhood in the event of an emergency.
“I think we live in such a fortunate time when it comes to information sharing, you know the bad side of that is there is misinformation out,” said Davies
“That’s why you want something like NotifyNow in your tool box because it’s a trusted source.”
It’s information from a trusted source that could some day save your life.
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