As wildfires rage in western Canada, a communications and broadcasting policy expert says the national weather alerting system should account for a wider range of extreme events.

Monica Auer of Canada害羞草研究所檚 Forum for Research and Policy in Communications said emergency notifications should be sent out for any events that have the potential to threaten lives, such as wildfires.

害羞草研究所淚害羞草研究所檇 say Canadians believe that they are entitled to rely on their communication system to receive warnings if life or property, or both, are at risk,害羞草研究所� said Auer.

As of now, the National Public Alerting System 害羞草研究所� publicly known as Alert Ready 害羞草研究所� issues emergency notifications for tornadoes and severe storms.

A federal regulatory policy drafted in 2014 said alert messages should be issued for situations presenting 害羞草研究所渋mminent or unfolding dangers to life.害羞草研究所�

The federal broadcast regulator said in the policy that this included, but was not limited to, tornadoes, forest fires, industrial disasters and tsunamis.

Erik de Groot, an associate director with Environment Canada, had no comment on the question of expanding the weather alerting system to include events such as wildfires or heat waves.

Since the summer of 2018, Environment Canada has used national weather alerts to warn of tornadoes by broadcasting them on television and radio stations as well as through mobile phone notifications.

In 2021, the national weather and climate agency added severe storms with at least seven centimetres of hail, or 170 km/h in wind speeds and greater to the alert system.

Nearly 2,300 alerts have been issued under the Alert Ready system from 2019 to Aug. 13, 2023. While most alerts were weather-related, some involved missing children or civic emergencies.

The goal is to get tornado and storm notices out to the public 15 minutes in advance of weather events striking.

De Groot said the alert system has 害羞草研究所渕atured害羞草研究所� since its inception.

害羞草研究所淲e害羞草研究所檝e seen a greater uptake, we害羞草研究所檙e able to get our alerts out to people that may not be aware,害羞草研究所� said de Groot.

He said forecasting weather is complex and there are cases when tornadoes and storms form very quickly, making things difficult to predict.

害羞草研究所淲e害羞草研究所檝e improved our radar network over the last five years. We害羞草研究所檙e finishing up that, which has helped us, but it害羞草研究所檚 not going to be perfect and probably it will never be perfect,害羞草研究所� de Groot said.

De Groot said Environment Canada is also developing a process to improve the geographical accuracy of alerts.

害羞草研究所淎s things stand right now, we send out our alerts based on zones,害羞草研究所� he said.

害羞草研究所淭hey害羞草研究所檙e predefined zones normally around (a) city, or a county, or a collection of counties, and the forecaster has to light up the entire area.害羞草研究所�

But, de Groot said, the new process would use radar, satellite and other technology to send alerts to more precise zones that would be affected.

A study by researchers with Western University害羞草研究所檚 Northern Tornadoes Project, assessing the performance of Environment Canada害羞草研究所檚 Alert Ready in relation to tornadoes, pointed to flaws in the system.

Only 12 per cent of alerts were issued before Canadian tornadoes in 2019 to 2021 actually started.

The study said 70 per cent of Canadian tornadoes in that span were unalerted and 17 per cent had public notices issued after the tornado害羞草研究所檚 recorded start time.

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