Reporting an emergency
If anyone is in danger, call 911 first. CivicPort does not dispatch the fire department, the police or an ambulance. Only 911 does that.
What CivicPort does is tell everyone else: your building office, the staff on site, the fire department that covers your building and, for a fire or a gas smell, every neighbour, so they can get out too.
This is only available if your community has switched it on. If you don't see Report emergency in the top bar, it is off for your community.
Reporting one
- Press Report emergency in the top bar. The first thing on the page is a Call 911 button.
- Pick what is happening: Fire or smoke, Gas smell, Flooding, Medical, or Something else.
- The next screen is only Call 911 and how to get out safely. Once you have called, press I've called — alert my building. If you can't call, press I can't call right now and the office is told that nobody has called yet.
- Say where it is (your unit, another unit, a hallway, the basement, outside, or not sure), add anything that would help, and say whether you are out of the building.
- Press Alert my building (or Send to the office for flooding, medical and anything else).
Your unit and floor on file go with the report, so you don't have to type an address.
Who is told
| What you report | Your office and staff | The fire department | Your neighbours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fire or smoke | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gas smell | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Flooding, medical, something else | Yes | No | No |
The office and staff get a push notification and an email. Neighbours get a push notification telling them to leave, and a bar across the top of CivicPort. Neighbours are not told who reported it.
If someone has already reported the same thing, your report is added to theirs instead of alerting everyone a second time.
After you report
The status page shows what has happened since: who has been told, when the office saw it, and whether a roll call has started. It keeps Call 911 on screen the whole time.
If it turns out to be nothing (burnt toast, a false alarm), press It was a false alarm. Everyone who was told gets an all clear.
If a neighbour reports one
You get a push notification, and a red bar across the top of every page in CivicPort saying what was reported and roughly where, with:
- I'm out of the building
- I need help getting out
Answer as soon as you are safe. If the office or the fire department starts a roll call, your answer is already on it, so the crew knows not to look for you, or knows to come for you. When it is over, everyone gets an all clear.
These notifications can't be muted, the same as a fire drill notice.