MINTO – The fire services of Mapleton, Minto and Wellington North have officially launched a new program with the purpose of providing a safer community.
Community Connect is a free and secure platform, officials say, that allows residents to share critical information about their household that will aid first responders’ decisions.
“The purpose of community connect is to provide a safer community through prevention, preparedness and response,” deputy fire chief Callise Loos told Minto council on Oct. 28.
Community Connect is a crowd-source portal where residents can input their critical information “and then we can use this information to make better decisions from a response perspective and a public education perspective,” she added.
“We’ve never had the ability to really use this information readily on scene.”
Since April the three fire departments have been moving old data to a new software called First Due.
A portion of the software is the Community Connect module.
“By using the Community Connect website residents can create an account using their address, email and phone number,” Minto Fire administrative coordinator Stephanie Chidlow told council.
Users can create either a residential or business account and then create their life safety profile.
“Some information residents might want to include in their profile would be details about their home, who lives their, how many people [and] how many children,” she continued.
Other information to add can include:
– emergency contact;
– functional needs such as medical conditions or mobility issues; and
– pets or livestock on site, photos or veterinary contact information.
“Through the portal they can also apply directly for burn permits,” Chidlow said.
Information commercial properties can add includes:
– business type;
– who to contact in emergency;
– business access information;
– key codes;
– utility shut-offs;
– property documents (fire safety plans or site images);
– fire protection system details; and
– any hazardous materials on site.
“Once a profile is created the user has the option to sign up for alerts so that if there were an emergency at their address they would be notified immediately,” she said.
The departments also have the option to send out emergency management alerts such as public education messaging, burn bans and flood warnings.
Loos said the portal is bank-level encrypted.
Council comments
“Do you include properties that are not in the town of Minto that you service as a fire department?” councillor Ron Elliott asked.
“In terms of Community Connect it’s only available to residents in Minto, Mapleton and Wellington North,” Loos replied.
“We have the ability to override the system … if there are bordering populations that we cover as a fire department then we can add them to that library of properties.”
She added, “But we had to limit it to geographic information so somebody from Kitchener can’t apply.”
“I think this is a great idea,” said deputy mayor Jean Anderson.
“The more information fire services have going into a situation, the better they’re able to serve people and protect themselves.”
“I’ve got a neighbour that’s all alone. She has no family, she hasn’t got a computer. How can we help her?” Mayor Dave Turton asked.
“We have print assets that will be available that anybody can carry and give out,” Loos said.
She also mentioned on-boarding sessions in the spring that will occur in partnership with groups such as the Seniors Centre for Excellence.
“You could invite your neighbour to one of those … or they can even call the fire department and we can on-board them via telephone,” Loos said.
Turton asked if Loos sees this program going province-wide.
“Certainly it could,” she said. “It just comes down to the fire departments who adopt a certain records management system. First Due is really catching on in the province,” Loos added.
To create an account visit communityconnect.io.
Council received the report for information.
