Tsunami? surf's up!

When I was an active member of the Tofino Fire dept. in 2000 the discussion back then was to install some sort of alarm system for the town. Whelen siren systems was contacted and many options discussed, the sales rep visited the town and gave a demo and indicated that the more discs installed on the tower the further or louder the siren would be but at a higher cost. If I remember correctly this amount was around $50,000 - $80,000 thus a grant application went into the Province through our local emergency PEP representative that application was turned down. It was then a discussion in sued about alternatives the term "air raid siren" came to light, they to if stacked on top of each other on the same pole had a further reach but at a much less cost compared to the discs. We felt that for the same amount of monies involved this type of horn system could almost be installed throughout the town, the only drawback that was brought to our attention was this was going to be a siren and no audible voice sound would be possible. The idea was put forward and senior staff and I’m guessing council too (I was not involved at that level) don’t know if it was discussed (but again I was not involved at that level) I only heard about it once in awhile after that. I left the Fire dept. and joined Search / Rescue I’m sure most of you if not all can remember the search in Tofino for William the day before his 8^th birthday, I was in command and co-ordinated 13 different agencies and over 300 people it was one of the largest searches on the Island only compared to the Michael Dunahee search in Victoria. Some people have suggested going door to door or doing a phone around type of thing, again being a SAR manager the logistics for this type of system is a huge under taking and uses up valuable resources. If we did a phone around what if the person didn’t hear the phone? Or was out of the house at that time? Again as a manager I would still get people to do a house to house visit and knock on the door. Tofino needs to understand that the wave that is going to “get us” is only about 20 minutes away and our warning is quake. One has to survive the shake, crawl out of their house, help their family, run across the street or next door and help their neighbour and get to higher ground all in 20 minutes? ummm ok hold that thought. We have anywhere from 2-8 hours of warning before a wave that crosses the Pacific or travels up and down our coast actually reaches Tofino this is what the siren system was originally meant for. People hear the siren and take action to find out what’s going on. I can’t think of to many people who would hang out on the beach after hearing a siren go off that is located on the beach. Signage and public info for visitors can easily address and cultural issues, and every one walking this planet knows what an “air raid” siren sounds like and that it means danger. I feel the style of system we have now is a Cadillac system, thinking we could have gotten more coverage for the same amount spent. But like I said I was not involved with upper management or council at that time, well as you can see it was an audible voice and siren system that was preferred. Hope we get what was paid for.


Garth