Emergency Planning and Preparedness

72-hour kit

Build an emergency plan

Whether it's a fire or an emergency, it's important to have a safety plan in place to ensure your family can evacuate the house safely.

• Pull everyone together in your household and make your plan together
• Walk through your home and inspect all possible exits and escape routes
• Households with children should consider drawing a floor plan of your home, marking two ways out of each room, including windows and doors. For easy planning, use the National Fire Protection Association escape planning grid

For more information, view the Nation Fire Protection Association safety tip sheet.

AlertWR - Community Alert Network (CAN)

Local municipalities and the Waterloo Regional Police Service jointly launched an emergency notification system called Alert Waterloo Region (AlertWR). Alert Waterloo Region is a service that allows you to receive important public safety messages in the event of flooding, severe weather or other emergency situations where there is an immediate risk to life. Notifications can be delivered to home phones, mobile phones, text and email.

A website, www.AlertWR.ca, was launched to promote the system and allow residents to sign up for notifications on multiple devices. The site also highlights local risks and emergency preparedness information for Waterloo Region.

Subscribe to Receive Alerts Here! Are you already subscribed but need to update your information? Update your subscription. If you were already registered through the Townships existing Community Alert Network (CAN) then you will need to re-register under the new AlertWR to receive future notifications. As of April 30^th 2019 if you have not yet re-registered under the new AlertWR notification system you will no longer receive any emergency notifications from the Township.

The Township would like to thank the following sponsors of the AlertWR Notifications System:

Community Awareness and Emergency Response (CAER) Group

• Community Awareness - communication provided to residents outlining the nature of our local businesses and what steps residents should take in the event of an emergency; and
• Emergency Response - recognize risks associated with industrial operations and develop emergency plans around them.

• Bio-En Power Inc.
• Bridgeland Terminals Ltd.
• CCC Sulphur Products (formerly Sulco)
• Egg Solutions (a dividison of Global Egg)
• Elmira Pet Products
• Home Hardware Limited (St. Jacobs)
• LANXESS Canada Co./Cie
• Region of Waterloo International Airport
• Region of Waterloo Emergency Management Office
• Safety-Kleen
• St. Jacobs Farmers Market
• Toyota Boshoku Canada Inc.
• Waterloo Catholic District School Board
• Waterloo Region District School Board
• Waterloo Regional Police Services

Emergency Response Plan

The Township of Woolwich has established an Emergency Response Plan. The plan outlines actions and coordination of services, agencies and personnel to provide the earliest possible response to an emergency.

The plan is tested and updated annually through a community exercise.

Fire

The fire department is a volunteer organization that provides emergency services within Township boundaries and portions of neighbouring municipalities.

The fire department is responsible for six Fire stations, Fire safety and prevention, and recruitment.

Flood Planning and Preparedness

The Township of Woolwich has currently developed a Flood Implementation Plan to help further prevent/mitigate the effects of flooding within the Township.  The plan is updated and reviewed with Council on a regular basis.

Keep these tips in mind to ensure your Home and Family are bettered prepared for a Flood Emergency:

1.    Prepare your Home

• Contact your Insurance company to inquire about overland flooding
• Install flood resistant materials in areas of the house that are flood prone
• Make sure all valuables are not stored in your basement or potential flooded areas within your house

2.    Prepare your Family

• Prepare a Family Evacuation "Go" Bag with essentials your family may need during an evacuation
• Prepare a Plan for your family should you need to evacuate your home during a flood
• If you have pets consider a "Go" Bag and Plan for you pets  as well during an emergency

3.    What to do Prior to a Flood

• Stay informed by signing up for alerts:
  • Subscribe to receive Flood Messages by twitter or email from GRCA
  • Subscribe to receive emergency alerts from the Woolwich Township Community Alert Network
• Once flood warnings are received
  • monitor radio, TV and social media for updates
  • monitor River Data through the GRCA website

4.    What Do to During a Flood

• Monitor the most update to date flood messaging from GRCA through
  • GRCA Website - In the News
  • GRCA Flood Messages Twitter feed
  • GRCA Facebook page
• Additional public safety information may be available through
  • Township of Woolwich Website
  • Township of Woolwich Twitter feed 
  • Township of Facebook page
• Report any high-water levels in rivers and streets to your local municipality
• Don't drink or wash in flood waters and obey instructions from local authorities
• Stay away from rivers and creeks that are flooded take extra precautions with children and pets
• Keep in mind electrical safety and contact your local hydro company to have the power shut off
• Never step into a room where water may be in contact with electrical outlets or power bars

5.    What to Do After a Flood

• Ensure proper cleanup of your home and property to protect against long-term mold and seepage
• Don't walk or drive through flooded streets

The municipalities within Waterloo Region have an Emergency Preparedness website with additional emergency preparedness tips!

Siren and Shelter-in-Place program 

The program is in Breslau, Elmira and St. Jacobs. The sirens can be used for severe weather, gas leaks, transportation accidents and chemical releases.

Because of the nature and rapid movement of severe weather systems along with the fact that we have now moved to a region-wide alerting system, the Townships Siren Program will be changing with respect to the notifications received when Environment Canada issues a Tornado Warning.

The Townships Sirens in Breslau, Elmira and St. Jacobs will still be used to notify residents of a Tornado Warning, if you wish to receive notification as to why the Sirens are going off (in this particular case of  Tornado warnings) you will need to register and subscribe for an email and/or text notification through the AlertWR System. 

Once you have received the initial AlertWR notification you can then receive the most up to date information including when the Tornado Warning is Terminated through the following methods:

• Signing up for Environment Canada Weather Alerts on their Twitter account at @ECALERTON82 (this option will also notify you of when a warning is issued within our township)
• Downloading the Environment Canada WeatherCAN mobile weather app and sign up for the notifications (this option will also notify you of when a warning is issued within your existing location assigned in the app)
• Or by visiting Environment Canada’s Alerts Webpage for Active Alerts in the Waterloo-Wellington area

It is important to know that you may also receive an Alert Ready Message from Canada’s Emergency Alerting System that delivers life-saving alerts to Canadians through television radio and LTE-connected and compatible wireless devices.

Siren Testing

The community sirens are tested on the following days:

• Breslau - Mondays at 7 p.m.

• Elmira - Saturdays at 12 p.m. (noon)

• St. Jacobs - Mondays at 7 p.m.

Shelter-in-Place

• Close all windows, outside doors and every door inside the building
• Seal cracks around doorways with tape and a rolled damp towel at the floor space
• Turn off air conditioners, furnaces, fireplaces and hot water heaters
• Stay tuned to local radio stations: AM 570, FM 96.7, FM 105.3 or Southwestern Ontario TV
• Keep your phone lines open

Do not collect children from school or other activities as they will be following the shelter-in-place protocol.