The Town of High River will be performing a test of its Emergency Notification Systems at 12pm Wednesday.

Carly Benson Director of Emergency Management says sirens and alerts are tested three times each year on the first Wednesday in January, May and September.

"The sirens will sound for three minutes, in addition to that everyone who's registered for High River Alert which is now part of the Safe Communities Alert Network will also receive a test notification just so we can make sure all of our systems are working and functional if we ever need them."

She says if it was a real situation the sirens would sound as long as the emergency situation is in place and adds if it were a real emergency there is a way to tell.

"If there was a real situation the siren sounds as long as the emergency situation is in place. It will probably sound for the first four hours and once we've had the chance to knock and peoples doors and go through communities and make sure everybody's safe."

Benson says they have a plan in place for real life emergencies.

"We do have a plan and it's actually available on our website if people are interested. You can see the version of the plan that tells you about the different situations and what types of communication we would be using for each of those situations."

Benson encourages all residents to sign up for High River alert by clicking High River Alert