Officials press for early start to emergency prep
Late-spring showers will give the Okanagan its best chance to avoid another nasty wildfire season, according to one of the officials on hand for a town hall meeting staged Monday in Penticton to get people thinking about emergency preparedness.
“Obviously we’re seeing a little activity up in the north part of the province right now, but really what we’re still watching for is to see what happens with the May and June weather. Anytime we can get a reasonable amount of precipitation in the May and June months, it can really set us up to look a little more successful with the potential for fire starts once we move into the summer season as things dry out,” explained Nicole Bonnett, spokesperson for the BC Wildfire Service.
“But we are carrying a little bit of that compounding drought over the last couple of years, so there still is quite a bit of potential out there.”
Already this year, there have been 102 fires in the Prince George Fire Centre, while three blazes in the Cariboo Fire Centre have already scorched 1,850 hectares.
Also on hand Monday was Brittany Seibert, emergency services manager for the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, which organized the event.
Seibert encouraged residents to adopt FireSmart principles around their homes to minimize fuel.
“One of the things that we have to understand is that ember cast is probably the No. 1 ignition source when we see homes that are lost during wildfires,” said Seibert.
“So, we need to look at what is around our homes that could be a catchment or could ignite from an ember.”
She also reminded those who might be ordered to evacuate to shut off their sprinkler systems before leaving.
“If you leave the water on, there is that concern that we could be tapping out the local water sources that could be utilized for fire suppression efforts, but also there’s a potential for water damage for homes,” explained Siebert.
Meanwhile, the RDOS also works with neighbouring First Nations through the Okanagan Nation Alliance to broadcast their local evacuation orders and alerts to the wider community.
“In the South Okanagan, the Syilx/ONA communities like to provide the evacuation and fire information to the RDOS to echo on their sites, because a lot of the communication that we’re utilizing is through our own internal channels, whether that’s a phone tree or a Facebook page,” said Dawn Russell, the ONA’s emergency management co-ordinator.
The ONA also works with the BC Wildfire Service on prescribed burns outside of wildfire season and on attack plans during emergencies. Such plans sometimes rule out easily accessible water sources that are off-limits due to environmental or cultural values, which Russell acknowledged can be a source of confusion outside those communities.
But she reassured the public the ONA’s traditional ecological knowledge keepers work under contract to the BC Wildfire Service “so there’s usually a very close relationship when it comes to protecting cultural spaces and protecting sensitive ecosystems within our territory.”
The RDOS uses the Voyent Alert system to broadcast emergency alerts, including evacuation orders, to its residents. Alerts can be provided by email, text message and even on landline telephones.
For more information, www.emergency.rdos.bc.ca. visit