With wildfires burning around the province, having destroyed the community of Lytton, and with other communities facing evacuation orders, there are steps qathet region residents can take to prepare for emergencies.
qathet Regional District (qRD) manager of emergency services Ryan Thoms said in light of the terrible event in Lytton last week, as well as the extreme heat recorded in the qathet region in the past week, it’s not surprising that people are concerned and interested.
“We welcome that because we’ve done a lot of work,” said Thoms.
He’s hoping community interest will drive people to the regional district website where there is a wealth of information. Regarding evacuation planning, for example, the regional emergency program has developed eight community evacuation guides as a result of community input at planning meetings held in the spring and summer of 2019.
“There’s a lot behind each of those brochures that have gone into our plans,” said Thoms. “We’ve worked with all of the stakeholders, such as fire, police, provincial ministries as well as the community meetings, which were all very well attended.
“We’re in this climate change world that we operate in and we’ve done a lot of work for evacuation planning, as well as our regional FireSmart program. FireSmart has been operating nearly 12 months a year, really encouraging people to think fire smart. It’s very reasonable to be a FireSmart community and to be safer and protect our properties and families and community better by fire smarting our homes and properties.”
Thoms said FireSmart coordinator Marc Albert is busy performing assessments at properties throughout the region and it’s a free service. Thoms said rebates are available to people who are making their properties fire smart.
“This is for everybody in the region,” said Thoms. “We all need to work together on this.”
Notification registrations increase
Thoms said a big project that has been worked on since the beginning of this year is bringing an updated community notification system into place. He said there has been a good uptake of registrations in recent weeks.
“The big emphasis is that local governments can do so much but it comes down to us as individuals and families making our plans,” said Thoms. “That’s the part we really need to emphasize. Our local governments can work on a regional level and a macro level but we’re not always in your homes and neighbourhoods. You can make the best emergency plans. Use the information we’ve developed and understand all of that. Get a FireSmart assessment.”
Thoms said local emergency preparedness agencies want people to focus on their neighbourhoods. He said it is important to be prepared.
“Hopefully, people will do what they can to fire smart their properties ahead of time and have a plan in place.”
Thoms said the qathet.ca website has tools to help people develop emergency plans. He said it’s important to know the risks to the region and to develop a strategy.
“We’ve done a lot of work to understand the wildfire risks as well as the other risks,” said Thoms. “There are events that can happen quickly that have really serious public safety impacts in a given neighbourhood. Safety isn’t necessarily that far away but it’s about being prepared and being ready to evacuate. Having a plan in place ahead of time will make it a whole lot easier.”
Thoms said the region is fortunate to have great emergency services, but in a major event, those resources will need to deal with the event and may not be available for individual responses.
The regional emergency services department can help people with evacuation planning or understanding the community notification system and getting registered.
“We’re really trying to give people the tools so they can get prepared,” said Thoms.
He said residents are welcome to contact the regional emergency services office for more information by contacting 604.485.2260 or emailing emergency@qathet.ca. He added that the hope is people will register for the community notification system and take advantage of all of the information that has been provided.
The regional district website has extensive information on emergency services by clicking on the emergency services icon on the homepage. On the page, people can sign up for alerts from the community notification system, find out information about the regional FireSmart program, and read an extensive section on emergency preparedness.
Science indicates mass evacuation unlikely
While recent events such as the Sliammon Lake and Daniels River fires underscore that wildfires can happen in this region, Thoms said the likelihood of such events requiring a complete regional evacuation are minimal.
“We’ve spent a lot of time working with professionals to develop a community wildfire protection plan,” said Thoms. “None of the science or the history shows a total evacuation of the region. If we look at the historical events from 100 years ago – some of the biggest fires to ever happen here – or the science that was a part of that, we see events that could impact an area.”
Thoms said in a worst-case scenario, with a wildfire with a wind behind it, and some dry fuels that aren’t fire-smarted, people need to evacuate in whatever direction they have, into other neighbourhoods.
“If you look at a map and the way the wind blows and the composition of our region, there’s no reason to believe that we’ll have a fire like the myth of a fire from Saltery Bay to Lund that never happened,” said Thoms. “The science does tell us that if a fire develops in your neighbourhood, it’s a real threat that our community has, but your preparedness plan should be to be working with friends and family in other areas to quickly evacuate and go somewhere safe.”
Thoms said Savary Island is the biggest challenge, with 2,000 to 3,000 people there in the summer. He said it is the only area where people could be looking at a water escape.
“Everywhere else, there’s more than enough land around you to move to safety without having to resort to that extreme,” said Thoms. “We really need the public to do their part, which is to be ready as individuals and families and have plans in place.”
