The City of Kimberley Fire Department will be testing the city’s emergency notification horn on the first Tuesday of every month at approximately 10 a.m. commencing on May 1.

Monthly testing is essential to ensure that the horn will function as expected in the event that an urgent alert is required.

At one time Kimberley had three notification systems that were used for various reasons. The reported histories around the various horns and sirens vary, but retired Fire Chief Bruce King and Assistant Fire Chief Jack Paterson have shed some light on the origins of our various signals.

The curfew siren was activated at 9:15 nightly, to notify young people that is was time to head home. There were also the air raid sirens that would be activated by national defence as Kimberley was suspected to be a target during the Cold War. These sirens were located in various areas around the city and were tested annually under the direction of the Federal Government.

Lastly, the air horn that is still on the top of City Hall was used to notify the city’s firefighters that they were needed for an emergency. The number of blasts from the horn would identify the location in town that the firefighters were needed. Technology eventually replaced the old horn, and the fire department now uses pagers and radios to notify its personnel. Today this horn is used to signal that an emergency alert is occurring.

We would like to kindly ask members of the community to please share the news that we will be testing the emergency horn every first Tuesday of the month.

Please feel free to contact the fire department at (250)-427-4114 or at [email protected].

City of Kimberley

Article Share