Residents of Esquimalt, View Royal and parts of Colwood: Don’t be alarmed.
The sirens and announcements you will likely hear several times a day from Feb. 2 to 6 are tests — and only tests — of CFB Esquimalt’s new $400,000 Mass Notification System for emergency preparedness in case of earthquakes and other calamities.
Base authorities and contractor Emery Electric Ltd. need to determine how low siren volume can go and still reach an estimated 4,000 military and base personnel as well as visitors and contractors on site, said base spokeswoman Sara Helmeczi.
Emergency personnel would trigger the siren if it’s deemed to be necessary.
“It’s not an automatic system that will go off on its own,” she said. “Hopefully, that will eliminate things like false alarms.”
A total of four speakers are mounted on poles 12 to 18 metres in height. They have been installed at Work Point, Dockyard and Naden.
It’s not known how far the sirens and announcements will carry in different weather conditions, Helmeczi said. To help gauge the reach of the system, there will be daily tests from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
CFB Esquimalt stretches across nearly 5,000 hectares and includes ships, outdoor facilities and 1,500 buildings.
Messages can be directed to all towers at once or isolated to one. The system can be programmed to provide warnings for hazardous-material emergencies, environmental threats, tsunami evacuation and concerns about base security.
Residents in adjacent communities likely will be able to hear up to four tones: an alternating test tone, an evacuation tone of low to high to low, a repeated blast of a single tone that signifies the need to take shelter in place, and the all-clear tone, which is similar to Big Ben’s chimes.
The towers and speakers are designed to survive an 8.0-magnitude earthquake, Helmeczi said. More siren poles may be located in Colwood, Albert Head and Rocky Point in the future.
“It’s really a preventive system,’’ said Helmeczi, noting there has not yet been a massive crisis on the base. Such systems are already in use in Oregon and California, she said.
After next week, the system will be activated only for a real emergency except for one-minute tests at 11 a.m. on the first Wednesday of each month, with public service announcement reminders issued in advance.
• To hear the siren tones, go to navy-marine.forces.gc.ca/en/ about/structure-marpac-units.page and click on the MNS tab.
