The 911 call is in. Fire crews are on their way. Is there anything you’d want them to know before they get to your home?
District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services Chief Mike Danks is hoping every household in the district will volunteer some vital intel that could save lives and homes in the event of an emergency.
The service has recently launched Community Connect, a database intended to give firefighters details like how many people live in a home, what languages they speak, what special needs they may have and whether crews should be looking for pets.
“We’re going into a situation with very little information most of the time with residential homes because we just haven’t had an ability to have that information in the past,” Danks said. “[Having that information] can make our response incredibly efficient and targeted to ensure that we get people out safely and effectively.”
Knowing where critical infrastructure like water and electrical shut-off switches are could mitigate the damage a structure faces, Danks said. Knowing in advance that residents speak other languages allows crews to line up interpreters on their way. And if no one is home at the time of a fire except someone’s cat or dog, Danks said crews will do their best to rescue them but only if they know to look.
“We take pets very seriously. We have oxygen kits for pets and we’ve used those in many circumstances, and that has been successful in saving the pets lives,” he said.
Similar data collection is done in the U.S., but Danks said this is the first time it’s been done in B.C.
Danks said he understands personal data like that is something people may feel guarded about sharing, but the process has been vetted through a privacy impact assessment and is governed by strict rules. The data is stored with “bank-level encryption” and not available to anyone else, he said.
“We also recognize that we need to build trust,” he said. “This is strictly for fire department use while responding to an emergency. That’s it.”
Danks said he recognizes that not everyone will have easy access to a computer to fill out the online form, so he encourages family, caregivers or friends to lend a hand. And the fire department will make staff available at the fire hall for help in the name of having potentially life-saving information available when it’s needed.
“I think we’re really lucky to be able to offer this to the residents of the District in North Vancouver,” he said. “As a community member myself, I was the first one to fill out the form, because I want to make sure that my family is safe.”
Community Connect can be found online at dnv.org/your-home-property/community-connect
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