Emergency planning has been the focus of a series of open house style meetings hosted in various communities by the Cariboo Regional District.
“We’re collecting information from folks to get some on-the-ground information from people in the communities so that when we have emergencies we can have some people that we can go to, to help us out,” says CRD chair Al Richmond.
Through the fires in 2009 and 2010, the right people the CRD could get a hold of provided helpful information to the CRD so it could make better decisions on how to provide better service to affected people.
It’s hoped the meetings will build on that experience.
“It’s an ambitious program,” Richmond says, adding the next upcoming meetings will be hosted in Kersley, Alexandria, Nazko, McLeese Lake, Wildwood, Big Lake, 150 Mile House and Miocene.
The meetings began on Jan. 26 and so far have been going well, with communities being receptive.
“People that have come out have been very helpful. We’re looking for fire departments and community groups that have those contact lists. One of the strengths we found when we were dealing with the fires in 2010 was if we could find people’s contact information, particularly e-mail addresses, we could get the information out to them quickly,” Richmond explains.
Many community groups have those lists in place and being able to access those will help better assist people.
“People living in communities are best aware of those who need transportation. Some people are shut-ins or disabled and need additional assistance if they are going to be evacuated,” Richmond says, adding if the CRD knows those factors then it will be better prepared and be aware of areas in the region where there are people that will need additional assistance.
The meetings have also served as a reminder to community members to register with their community so that people know if they are away.
Three years ago the provincial government indicated it was going to do a template for communities, so the CRD held off holding meetings of its own, waiting for the templates to come out.
Then late last year the province said the templates they were developing wouldn’t help rural communities as much as the CRD thought they were going to.
At that point the CRD decided to take on the initiative for itself.
“We’ve taken this blitz on to try and go out and get information.
“With the fire ban coming on April 2 you can see it’s dry and people are very concerned with snow packs between 28 and 60 per cent of normal levels.
“There’s a concern about what may happen this summer.”
Rowena Bastien, CRD manager of protective services, is hosting the meetings and taking information at each one so that it’s compiled in a consistent manner.
Richmond says the meetings are the beginning of a process the CRD will build on.
“We’ve done one out in Alexis Creek and we’ll now assemble some more information for these other communities.
I think we’ll be back again doing a more detailed approach, but this is the beginning. It will be an ongoing process of building the information and hopefully keeping it up so that when we have emergencies we can provide timely assistance to the folks that need it.”
Upcoming meetings are scheduled as follows:
• Tuesday, Feb. 21: McLeese Lake Community Hall, from 5 to 8 p.m.
• Wednesday, Feb. 22: Wildwood Fire Hall, from 5 to 7 p.m.
• Thursday, Feb. 23: Big Lake Community Hall, from 5 to 8 p.m.
• Saturday, Feb. 25: 150 Mile Community Hall, from 9 a.m. to noon.
• Saturday, Feb. 25: Miocene Community Hall, from 2-5 p.m.
For further information on the above meetings or other upcoming emergency planning meetings in the CRD, visit the CRD website.