It's very difficult to pin down a best practice, because, again, this comes down to geography and other such things. Alerting people can be done through.... We've used reverse-911 systems, systems of alerting through mobile phones. We can actually do the federal and provincial alerts, which alert everybody's phones, but, again, that all takes time.
In my experience, the most effective way of evacuating people is when someone has to knock on their door and basically say, “You need to leave.” People will see something on their phone, and when they get that trusted face at the door.... I've seen firefighters and police officers pleading with people to leave their homes. We can't force anybody to leave their homes.
In terms of best practice, that would really be an interesting point, from a federal perspective, about what would be the best way to do this over a wider area, but I accept your chief's point: Some of the evacuation distances listed in the ERG are flabbergasting. We're talking kilometres, especially at night, when people are asleep. It is a significant challenge.