Emergency Preparedness
The following is an update of the various plans and undertakings of the CRD Emergency Planning staff.
Evacuation Plan
The region wide evacuation plan was completed in the spring of 2009. The project involved hosting evacuation planning meetings in each of the four emergency zones in the regional district. The meetings were held to assess the needs of each zone and discuss past evacuation efforts. After hosting the four meetings, the consultant working with the regional district designed a high level umbrella evacuation plan for the Cariboo Regional District. Following the plan's completion, the Cariboo Regional District hosted evacuation planning courses which were offered to community groups, members and agencies interested in building community specific evacuation plans specific to their individual communities that will be worked to dovetail into the overall plan of the regional district.
Volunteer Emergency Contacts (VECs)
With full support of the Provincial Emergency Program the Cariboo Regional District started recruiting volunteer emergency contacts within individual communities. These individuals will be called on in an emergency to provide detailed local knowledge of the affected zone and that knowledge will be used to assist in emergency response and recovery efforts. These volunteers will be registered as General Service volunteers with PEP and be eligible to receive Work Safe BC protection as well as third party liability protection through PEP when they are providing services as volunteers. Currently we have 32 VEC's registered with The Emergency Planning department.
Integrated Emergency Planning for First Nations and Local Government
In 2006 UBCM awarded the Cariboo Regional District a grant to develop integrated emergency planning with First Nations. The objective of this grant was to develop a quick guide handbook to be used during emergency events. The Cariboo Regional District hosted a number of planning meetings in the development of this handbook. This project was completed in the winter of 2008 and the handbooks are now being distributed across the regional district.
Flood Response Plan
The Emergency Planning department recognized a need for a generic flood response plan in January of 2009. After reviewing other agencies' flood response plans as well as the protocols of Provincial Ministries, a flood response plan was drafted and then vetted through the Provincial Emergency Program and other agencies for feedback. The draft plan is now complete and is attached for the Board's information.
Business Continuity PlanDuring an EOC
Recognizing the need to keep the services of the Cariboo Regional District operating efficiently during a large emergency event, the Emergency Planning Department has begun drafting a business continuity plan to ensure the CRD continues to operate efficiently. The plan is to develop MOU's with neighbouring Municipalities and Regional Districts to use outside staff to fill roles in the Emergency Operations Centre as well as backfill positions that may be vacant in the Cariboo Regional District. The plan will be two parts, one involving the activation of the Cariboo Regional District's EOC and the other part will plan for the loss of use of the Cariboo Regional District's building infrastructure. The initial draft of this plan is nearly complete and is expected to be finalized in the fall of 2009.
Business Continuity Plan – Loss of CRD Building/Infrastructure
This plan is in very early development stages but will identify and prioritize essential business services, how and when they will be brought back on line in the case of a disaster that renders our current buildings and infrastructure lost or unusable.
Emergency FM Radio Broadcast System
Staff are working through the process of applying for licenses necessary to legally operate a portable emergency radio broadcast system in rural areas during an emergency. The system planned for use will be a portable unit and use the FM band 91.1 to notify residents in the affected area of the status of the emergency event. The Cariboo Regional District has received letters of support from numerous emergency stakeholders including PEP, RCMP and MOT within the district and applications for exemption status have been submitted to the CRTC and Industry Canada. Other application processes are still ongoing and we hope to have an answer from the involved government agencies in the near future. Wantok Industries has agreed to provide the CRD with a broadcasting unit so we can try it out in various areas to determine the signal strength actually needed to provide useful coverage. If we can use a relatively low level broadcast signal this will accelerate our success in the application process.
EOC Training
Staff developed and then delivered a real time mock training event to the Emergency Planning Committee this spring. Participation was good and the feedback received from staff as a result of this exercise was used to identify the level of effectiveness of the regional district's emergency plan and areas of the plan that needed improvement. From this exercise, the EOC equipment and activation protocols have been improved and a 24 month training timeline is being developed that meets the needs identified from the exercise. In addition, the cost of equipment identified as being required will be determined and grant funding will be sought to purchase such equipment.
Offsite EOC
The need for developing a second off-site EOC had been identified in the Emergency Planning Department's business plan. A location that best meets the requirements for a secondary EOC has been determined and work to install initial wiring will begin shortly.
Emergency Social Service
The Emergency Planning department is exploring the possibility of MOU's with neighbour municipalities that would entail CRD support for municipal ESS teams in order that the CRD can task them through PEP during CRD events. These ESS teams will only be used by the CRD for large scale events such as evacuations from outlying areas to member municipalities. A draft MOU has been submitted to the City of Williams Lake Emergency Planning staff and similar discussions have started with the District of 100 Mile House. Contact with Quesnel ESS will be made in the near future as well. This approach, supported by PEP, will negate the need to try and duplicate volunteer groups from a limited human resource pool and result in better funding and training for the existing/resultant groups.
Hazardous Material Spills
The Cariboo Regional District's emergency plan has identified hazardous material spills as one of the high risks in the area. The City of Williams Lake's Fire Department has a fully trained and equipped response team. CRD staff has approached City of Williams Lake staff about developing additional human and equipment resources as part, and in support of this team to facilitate responses required outside the current response area of Williams Lake. These discussions are in preliminary stages only until the issue of the City's ability to respond outside of their area has been determined.
Public Education
The need to inform the public of their responsibility to be personally prepared for an emergency event for the first 72 hours is crucial to the well-being of citizens especially within the Cariboo Regional District due to our large geographic area and rural population. The Emergency Planning Department ensures this message is reinforced whenever possible in their media releases. This was recently articulated in the Upfront publication just sent to everyone in the CRD and newspaper articles and advertising during Emergency Preparedness Week. Other training made available to members of the public has included Introduction to ESS, Evacuation Planning, Public Leadership Training, and Incident Command 100 training courses. The CRD also hosted an Emergency Planning Spring Readiness Conference with speakers from Ministry of Forests/Cariboo Fire Centre, Red Cross, Weather Canada, Provincial Emergency Program, Cariboo Regional District, and Spectra Energy this spring
Building Relationships
Building good working relationships with the multiple agencies that will need to work together during an emergency is one of the most important ways of preparing for a successful response to any emergency. Knowing who, how and when to contact people during an emergency is key to getting critical information in a timely manner in order to plan and provide for the correct response. CRD staff has and continue to do this through Emergency Stakeholder meetings in the North, Central and South Cariboo, by including agencies in training opportunities and public meetings throughout the Cariboo and keeping in touch with these agencies outside of emergency responses. Emergency Planning staff has developed an excellent contact list of many representatives from multiple Ministries, Municipalities, agencies, associations, and societies and know most of the people on those lists. This is an ongoing requirement of success and still a work in progress.
Community Wildfire Protection and Fuel Mitigation Projects
Emergency Planning staff meets regularly as part of the Williams Lake Interface Fire Secretariat to implement actions identified as being necessary in the Williams Lake Interface Fire plan. In addition, staff work closely with the Ministry of Forests and UBCM to assist local communities and other groups in applying for and carrying out Community Wildfire Protection Plans and the subsequent fuel mitigation projects identified as part of these plans. In 2009, to date, there are seven active and approved projects in progress worth a total of $150,594.00. Applicants continue to call and submit new applications.
CRD Emergency Planning Responses and Issues
| 2004 | Lonesome Lake Fire |
| 2005 | Big Creek Flooding, Elkins Creek Flooding, Horsefly-Moffat Creek Flooding, McLeese Flooding, Lac La Hache Flooding |
| 2006 | Cottonwood Ice Jam, McLeese Lake land slippage, Anahim Lake Fire, Nazko Fire, Tesla Lake Fire, Narcosli Creek Fire, |
| 2007 | Cottonwood Flood, Mahood Lake Fire, Hayman Crescent, Blackwater River Ice Jam, Fraser River Slide Kersley |
| 2008 | Canim-Red Creek MacIntosh Sandbagging, Hawke Creek Slide, Milburn Beaver Dam, Pine Valley Trailer Park Freshet, Cottonwood River High Water, Horsefly Bridge Debris Buildup, Moffat Creek Flood, Ten Mile Lake High Water |
| 2009 | Spring Runoff/Flooding, Comer Hill Bank Stability Issue, Wildwood Propane Leak, 70 Mile Fire/Evacuation, Buffalo Creek Fire |