With wildfire season already underway the Cariboo Regional District’s plan to deal with wildfires is being bolstered by new funding.
Gerald Pinchbeck is the CRD’s Manager of Communications - however, in an emergency, he participates as an information officer responsible for coordinating public communications with residents about an emergency. Pinchbeck says that the CRD operates on a four-tier cycle when it comes to emergencies such as wildfires.
“We mitigate where we can, whether that’s through our land use planning practices, through initiatives such as FireSmart, or other things like ensuring that we have a building inspection service,” Pinchbeck explained.” We respond to emergency events as required to protect people and property in the regional district, and we engage in recovery after an event.”
On April 18 the CRD’s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) received new funding from the provincial government - around $13,875 as part of B.C.’s strategy for a “stronger local emergency response.” The funding includes general materials and supplies for the EOC in Williams Lake, training materials and supplies, new computer hardware and carry bags and Starlink remote hardware to enable the EOC to move if necessary.
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This funding will also pay to send CRD staff to other parts of the province to receive accredited training for the Incident Command System (ICS) from the 100 to the 300 level. Each ICS level offers training that will create an effective system to control and coordinate the response to the emergency. At the 100 level, they will learn the basics of site management, at the 200 level how to manage moderate-sized incidents and at the 300 level how to handle large-sized incidents.
“It’s really the language of emergency management,” noted Pinchbeck about ICS.
Once these staff members have completed the ICS courses, Pinchbeck said they’ll be able to pass on what they’ve learned to other staff members locally, ultimately saving the CRD money.
“Instead of sending staff away to other areas or jurisdictions to obtain that training, at great expense to the local taxpayer, we instead provide that training internally.”
To prepare for wildfires the CRD has also placed a focus on educating the community through the appointment of Travis Flanagan as their first FireSmart educator.
FireSmart BC is a program which “builds wildfire resiliency and reduces the negative impact of fire for everyone in the province” by teaching people about ways to reduce the wildfire risk to their property.
“Our FireSmart educator is out in the community, providing information about not just what FireSmart is and the different strategies you can use to protect your property, but also the benefits and showing clearly how things that we might have done before like planting cedars right next to our wooden structures isn’t advisable in the landscape.”
In addition to cooperating with FireSmart regulations, the CRD has also performed several inter-jurisdictional exercises with other agencies.
“We just had one a couple of weeks ago that involved CN Rail, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Transportation, the City of Williams Lake, the Regional District, BC Wildfire - we had several agencies in the room talking about what not just possible events that could happen impacting the Regional District, but also highlighting opportunities where further collaboration could ease response,” Pinchbeck said.
To keep up-to-date on local emergencies, Pinchbeck said residents should be following the CRD’s Emergency Operations Centre on Facebook, as well as following BC Wildfire on Facebook or downloading the app. In addition, the CRD is asking residents to sign up for the emergency notification system so they receive any evacuation alerts or evacuation orders issued this summer.
The CRD uses VoylentAlert! to issue these notifications, and the app can be downloaded through either the Apple App Store or the Google Play stores.
Finally, the CRD is asking residents to be prepared for wildfires this summer and to evacuate if necessary.
“Most importantly, be ready to go if you need to build emergency kits, whether that’s having a 72-hour grab-and-go bag, or having a shelter-in-place supply kit that will provide your family with food, water, clothing and emergency supplies including medications between 72 hours and one week,” Pinchbeck said.