A new program allows Okotokians to give first responders critical information to better protect homes and businesses in case of an emergency situation.
Community Connect is a community risk reduction tool that's recently been adopted by many fire departments across North America.
Okotoks Fire Chief, Trevor Brice, says it allows residents to provide information on their home or business and the people who might be inside, which will assist firefighters and other first responders.
"Basically, it's a free secure platform where residents and business owners can go in, sign up, and they can tell us 'I have two pets, I have somebody who is immobile or somebody who sleeps in the basement room,' so some of the issues for your property. If there's a code to get through a door or gate, they can put that in there. The only people who can see it is us, so it's secure in that regard."
Usually, says Brice, first responders have little to no info on homes they're responding to unless the homeowner or a neighbour happens to be close by.
"We have to do that all by our own situational awareness. If we haven't got codes for the doors, we have to get in somehow, and firefighters wear big boots so they're going to kick that door down. We try to minimize any damage we cause, but we've got to get in there."
He says the Community Connect program gives an advantage before they've even arrived.
"What happens is, when we're on our way to an incident, we have information come over to us. So the information for that property, we can press a button and it will come up and say they've got a door code, or they've got two pets, or whatever. The incident commander start can taking that into account for when he gets there, so he hasn't got to find that information out now since he's already got it."
Home and business owners can participate in the voluntary program.