Beginning next Tuessday (March 15), residents of Furry Creek, Britannia Beach and many other areas in the southern portion of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) will be able to pick up the phone and dial 9-1-1 to summon police, fire and ambulance services.
While many people in larger communities take 9-1-1 emergency service for granted, officials have been working for years on proper street addressing and technical issues to bring the service to Pemberton, Birken, D'Arcy, X'itolacw, Mount Currie, Britannia Beach and Furry Creek.
SLRD officials, who postponed a scheduled Feb. 16 launch date to ensure completeness and accuracy of the new telephone answering system, announced the new launch date for those areas in a statement issued on Monday (March 7).
As the launch date approaches, residents of the affected areas were reminded to ensure that their street addressees are clearly displayed so that they are vislble from the road, day or night. Also, don't program 9-1-1 into your phone's speed dial as it often results in errant 9-1-1 calls going out, putting a strain on emergency services resources. If you have an alarm system, never program 9-1-1 into your system's auto-dialer, officials said.
Those with questions about the service are asked to contact Peter DeJong at the SLRD at [email protected]
