‘Can you hear me now?’

that even in areas – like ones near Livingston’s Cove – there is unreliable service. And even where there is service, it can "bounce."

"You’ll get bouncing [signals]," Maceachern said. "The signal bounces off two separate towers, so you’re bouncing off Nova Scotia and P.E.I at the same time. We’ve had emergency calls that bounce off P.E.I., and they’ve been sent to the north shore from P.E.I.," she said.

Adding to the confusion and danger is the fact that P.E.I. also has a fire department called the North Shore Volunteer Fire Department – so if a call bounces in error to P.E.I, there is a great deal of potential for further delays in a situation "where, already, 1,000 things can go wrong," Maceachern said.