An alarm rang at CN Rail’s Capreol yard last week, prompting concern from area residents worried about the potential of a Lac-Mégantic-style rail disaster.
It turned out to be a false alarm, but with the rail company declining to officially notify area residents, this news spread unreliable via social media networks.
Capreol resident Lise Beaudry posted about the alarm in the Capreol Community Facebook page, seeking an explanation for the disruptive evening siren.
“I had no idea what the siren was and didn’t know it came from CN,” she told Sudbury.com.
“I think as a community we should be familiar with this siren and what it means for us. I have never heard it since I moved here in 2005, and I have no idea what it means if it does go off. A little education from CN would be nice.”
The alarm “caused considerable panic through the community,” Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée told her colleagues around council chambers earlier this week.
The alarm sounded at approximately 10 p.m. Thursday, and Labbée said she was responding to messages throughout the night from area residents.
“It was a misstep on their part to not at least confirm it was an accident,” she said of CN Rail. “That type of siren should never go off unless there’s a dire emergency for the community.
“People are looking for some kind of information about what to do in a situation like that, and what the lines of communication look like from CN to the city.”
Fire and Paramedic Services Chief Joseph Nicholls said that, upon receiving information from Labbée regarding the incident, his department reached out to CN and has scheduled meetings to review their emergency plan.
The goal, he said, is to have “a larger-context discussion with them about bringing them into our normative processes for other community partners who have emergency procedures. We have a standardized notification process so that everyone gets properly notified and is aware of what’s going on.”
The city issues alerts through social media, and the Sudbury Alerts program, which sends messages to home phones, cell phones, teletypewriters, fax numbers and email addresses.
Existing partners in the Sudbury Alerts program include Vale, Glencore, Greater Sudbury Police Services, Greater Sudbury Utilities and Public Health Sudbury and Districts.
Nicholls said he’d provide the city’s elected officials with an update following their meeting with CN Rail.
Labbée’s concerns regarding CN Rail’s lack of public communication on the matter were echoed in Sudbury.com’s inability to receive information from the rail company.
Sudbury.com reached out to CN Rail for insight regarding the alarm, and received a written response from public affairs manager Daniel Salvatore in return:
“CN crews responded to an emergency siren in Capreol Yard on August 10, 2023,” they wrote.
“Their investigation revealed an accidental siren activation and CN notified local emergency services immediately. CN apologizes to area residents for the inconvenience caused by this incident. CN works closely with federal, provincial and municipal agencies across its network to prepare for and respond to emergencies.”
Missing from their response were answers to the following questions posed by Sudbury.com:
- What time did the alarm go off?
- How long did the alarm sound?
- What is the alarm intended for?
- What, if any, kind of communication was sent out to the public after the alarm sounded, to explain it?
- In the event of an actual alarm, how is the community alerted regarding its purpose?
Pressed further, CN updated their statement to note their response includes an unspecified “public notification ... when required.”
They also started their intention to test their yard siren at approximately 12 p.m. on Sept. 10, which will last for about 30 seconds, and that local police have been made aware.
The balance of Sudbury.com’s questions remained unanswered.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
