With many of us having installed security gates in defense of our properties, I thought you would like to know what you can do to prepare if you have an emergency at your place and your gate is locked. The gate is the owner’s responsibility. Homeowners are responsible to provide gate information to our Foothills Regional 911 Dispatch Center, which will provide information to emergency responders. You can provide your gate code or lock box code and details about the gate. If there is a key required for the gate or lock on a chain, you can get a lock box from Okotoks/High River Lock & Key (or other sources) and place it near the gate. Some gate manufacturers set their gates to open at the blast of our sirens (check with your installer). The last resort by our Fire department is to cut the lock, lift the gate off the hinges, pull the gate open with a chain from the fire truck engine, or various degrees of destruction to gain access. EMS and Police will not have that option. Sometimes they call the Fire Department for assistance when there is no code info on file. The destruction of the gate in the case of an emergency is also the owner’s responsibility.
Please register your gate information with our Foothills Regional 911 Dispatch Centre and an information note can be added to your address in our Computer-Aided-Dispatch records, so it will come up automatically if you call in from a land line. If you call from a cell or VOIP phone, when you give your address and they enter it in, the info will come up in the system because it is attached to your land location and 911 address. You simply need to send an email to: Reports@fresc.ca. Include: your name, legal address, 911 address, phone number, type of gate, and lock details. You will receive an acknowledgement. Thx Fire Chief Smith & Foothills Regional 911 Dispatch Centre for info!
Suzanne Oel
Councillor, Foothills County