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Register for Emergency Alerts
The Town of Banff provides emergency alerts using the Voyent Alert system to help residents and visitors become informed about situations that may require people to take action to protect their safety. These alerts may be town-wide or very localized to people who have placed their pins in a particular area, such as school, home or work location.
You must register below to receive alerts from the Town of Banff.
Local emergencies may include:
- evacuation alerts or orders
- wildfire notices
- river flooding
- train derailment
- severe storms closing local roads
- avalanche
- building fires
- gas leaks
- hazardous spills
- aggressive wildlife in town
- dangerous person
When signing up for emergency alerts, you remain anonymous, and you are asked how you want to receive an alert: by text, email, voice phone call or a message via an app. You can place a pin on the map for your home or hotel, and any other frequented location such as a place of work or school or recreation spot. This ensures you receive alerts that may be limited to a specific area, as well as non-emergency information notifications for neighbourhoods.
For emergencies, you will receive a bold Alert that is hard to miss. For notifications of issues that are non-emergencies, you will receive a normal notification on the service you select.
For visitors to Banff, select the method of notification that works for you and your mobile device. Place your "home" at your hotel or campground and add a destination in town. All methods are easy to unsubscribe when you leave town. There are location sin Banff National Park without mobile phone service, but you will receive the alert once you return to service, if you are subscribed or have the app.
Neighbouring Communities
When you register, or at a later date when you log in, you can also add locations in neighbouring communities that use the Voyent Alert system. For example you can "add location" and type in Canmore to place a pin there and receive alerts from the Town of Canmore. Or you can type in Lake Louise and enter a pin at that location for alerts from Parks Canada.
Banff's neighbouring jurisdictions using the Voyent Alert system include Parks Canada issuing alerts for areas outside the town, but inside the national park, such as Lake Louise. The Town of Canmore and the Municipal District of Bighorn (Exshaw and Harvie Heights) also use Voyent Alert. You can register for alerts in these areas at any time, by visiting register.voyent-alert.com and adding locations you frequent in those zones.
Current Alerts
Below is a map with current alerts within the Town of Banff. Sign up below to receive alerts sent to you.
The Town of Banff uses the Voyent Alert system for alerts
You select how you would like to receive an emergency alert or notification:
- an app downloaded onto your smart phone or tablet
- through email
- SMS text to your mobile phone
- a recorded message to a phone
In the event of an emergency, this will be how the Town of Banff contacts you about critical information telling you what to do. The Town's system is separate from Alberta Alerts or Canada-wide alerts; the Town only issues notifications for issues in this area. (The Town of Banff also has access to Alberta Emergency Alerts when needing to issue a life-saving message that can cut into TV and radio broadcasts and send an alarm and message to all cell phones in the region.)
In addition to multiple ways to receive alerts, the Voyent system will include a map of the affected area to help you understand where emergencies are taking place and what you need to do to stay safe.
Registration for the service is free, simple and totally anonymous.
Remember to set a pin for your home, hotel, your child's school, your work, destination or favourite store - perfect for localized notifications based on geographic areas. If you are registered already and you want to change or add locations, log in and select DETAILS, or open the Voyent Alert mobile app.
We don't ask for your name or other personal information. Registration only asks for how you want to be notified, and the address or map pin of where you live and/or other locations in town (such as you place of work, your child's school, a favourite trail) that will help you receive the alerts that matter to you.
Frequently Asked Questions about Banff's Voyent Alert system
Options for registering:
Click here to Register for Alerts by email, text or calls to your phone.
- Registration Help Tutorial (review this tutorial in advance if you want to know what registration entails before you start.)
OR
Download the App by clicking your device's App provider:
Non-Emergency Alerts
When you sign up for Voyent Alert! you’ll also be subscribed to non-emergency notifications. You can opt out of these notices at any time. Your location-based pin allows you to receive non-emergency notifications that affect very localized areas such as:
- parking bans for snow clearing or street sweeping
- road closures, trail and park closures
- service disruption (water/power) in your area
- special events advisories that affect surroundings
Take time to be prepared
After registering for Emergency Alerts and notifications, take time to familiarize yourself with how to be prepared for emergencies in this mountain town. Learn about preparing your "go bag" for evacuations, how to shelter in place, your evacuation guide and checklist.