The Emergency Public Warning System was a system used in the province of Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 until October 2011, whereby local or provincial authorities could warn the public about impending or current emergencies affecting their area. The system was proposed by the provincial government after an F4 tornado

Edmonton Tornado

The Edmonton Tornado, an event also known as Black Friday to Edmontonians, was a powerful and devastating tornado that ripped through the eastern part of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and parts of neighbouring Strathcona County on the afternoon of Friday, July 31, 1987.The tornado remained on the...

 ripped through Edmonton

Edmonton

Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

, Alberta on July 31, 1987, killing 27 and causing millions of dollars in damage. It was replaced by the Alberta Emergency Alert.

The EPWS could be activated by local police, fire, and environmental agencies; by Environment Canada

Environment Canada

Environment Canada , legally incorporated as the Department of the Environment under the Department of the Environment Act Environment Canada (EC) (French: Environnement Canada), legally incorporated as the Department of the Environment under the Department of the Environment Act Environment...

; and by other provincial and local authorities as required. It could be activated for any of the following reasons:

• Severe weather
  Severe weather
  Severe weather phenomena are weather conditions that are hazardous to human life and property.- Examples Include :Severe weather can occur under a variety of situations, but three characteristics are generally needed: a temperature or moisture boundary, moisture, and , instability in the...
  
  
• Flood
  Flood
  A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
  
  
• Wildfire
  Wildfire
  A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
  
  
• Hazardous material release
• Terrorist threat
• Water contamination
• AMBER Alert
  AMBER Alert
  An AMBER Alert or a Child Abduction Emergency is a child abduction alert bulletin in several countries throughout the world, issued upon the suspected abduction of a child, since 1996...
  
  
• Other threats to life, property and safety.

The EPWS was originally operated by the CKUA Radio Network, but was later operated by a private company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario.It was rebroadcast through various television and radio stations and cable systems provincewide.

External links

• EPWS Website at the Government of Alberta