VANCOUVER -- Neighbourhoods across Metro Vancouver are showing their appreciation for healthcare workers with nightly applause and cheering, and the Ridge Meadows RCMP has decided to join in with their take on the initiative: "Frontline for the Frontline."

Every night at 7 p.m., officers in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows will turn on their lights, as well as blare their horns and sirens in short blasts, to show support for frontline healthcare workers.

Officers elsewhere, including in Burnaby and Vancouver, have since joined the initiative

The initiative started on Monday night and will continue for at least the rest of the week with community members encouraged to join in by cheering from their doorsteps.

Const. Julie Klaussner said officers were inspired by what they saw happening in Vancouver and wanted to come up with a unique way to show their support for healthcare workers.

"If we're making a little bit of noise, then people from a larger distance can hear that and realize that we're out there. We're business as usual from the frontlines, much the same as healthcare workers," she said.

It was also a way for officers to practice physical distancing while showing their support in unison.

"Similar to Vancouver, we're encouraging our community members and the people who are at home to come out on your balconies or go out in your front yards and keep your social distancing but make a little noise," said Klaussner.

The horn and siren noises will be played in short bursts, similar to what might be heard during a parade, to avoid public confusion, Klaussner said. Support for the initiative, she said, has been "overwhelmingly positive."

"Let's keep everybody safe while trying to add some levity to a situation that I think everyone feels that we probably need at this time," she said. "We will get through this together."