More than 2,500 people received an alert from the Sunshine Coast Regional District last Friday, after a spill of a slippery substance on Highway 101 caused "treacherous" driving conditions — but the alert came after the road was reopened.
On July 7, at 4:40 p.m., the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) issued a notice through Voyent Alert about the spill, treacherous driving conditions, and that only critical highway travel should pass through the area for the next two to four hours. But the notice came after the RCMP allowed traffic to resume “at a certain speed,” and the map included with the alert pinned the incident site as near Egmont/Earls Cove. The spill had been from the Wharf Ave. intersection in Sechelt to Leaning Tree Road in Halfmoon Bay.
Sechelt fire chief Trevor Pike told Coast Reporter they were dealing with a number of different agencies and incoming calls. The Sunshine Coast Emergency Program coordination centre was looped in to get the message out “on as many mediums as possible.
“It was just there was so much going on, and at first we didn’t request… so that’s where there’s a bit of a delay.”
The alert was sent to 2,586 people, warning the public that the highway was closed because of dangerous driving conditions caused by the spill. In an email, Matt Treit, the SCRD’s manager of protective services,said this type of alert falls within the Voyent Alert guidelines “for mitigating risk to the public.”
The notice was classified as an informational alert, so didn’t include the kind of audible warning that comes with an emergency alert. Emergency alerts are issued for evacuation alerts/orders due to fire, flood and other hazardous events, Treit said.
The Sunshine Coast Regional District launched Voyent Alert, its subscription-based emergency and information notification system, in December 2021. Since then, the regional district has used the system to notify the public about available cooling centres during extreme heat.
Treit acknowledged a delay in the informational alert on July 7, which he attributed to a delay in the Sunshine Coast Emergency Program being notified of the spill.
The Sunshine Coast Emergency Program will be meeting with MOTI representatives next week to improve future communication, and the SCRD will be debriefing with external partners involved in the incident to improve support and communication with responders.
“It was an oversight that the alert was pinned for just Egmont/Earls Cove area, and we are working to rectify this for future notifications,” Treit wrote.
At 4:17 p.m., the SCRD also issued a transit alert on Facebook. Treit said the SCRD also posted notice on its website and connected with DriveBC to indicate the spill on road reports. BC Ferries was also notified to issue on-board announcements and help keep traffic to a minimum while helping keep crews and emergency responders safe on the road.
With files from Bronwyn Beairsto
