I recently called Shaun Koopman who is in charge of emergency response at the SRD, to let him know that after 24 hours of a power outage, we loose our phone lines and the ability to reach out in an emergency.

Below is his response:

Dear Whaletown residents
It has come to my attention that during recent power outages your landlines loose power after a short amount of time, and between no landline access and areas of Whaletown without cell phone reception, you have no ability to call 911.

In order to help address this public safely issue the SRD requires an answer to the following questions:
1) what is your house address?
2) how long after a power outage does your land line loose power?
3 ) Has this been an issue with power outages this year or has it been a consistent issue over time?
4) have you needed to call 911 and were unable to due to weather?

The questions above were developed in consultation with emergency services stakeholders in order to provide me with the information required to better understand this situation and advocate for a solution at higher levels.

I am requesting to please receive your feedback by Friday December 10.
Please respond to SKoopmansrd.ca