EMERGENCY RISK REDUCTION

2018 has been another historic year in British Columbia for wildfires.  I say another, because 2017 was an historic year, as mentioned in a blog last year. The number of wildfires this year has surpassed 2017, as well as the number of hectares burned. Admittedly, the fires have been generally smaller this year, as well as the number of people evacuated. In other words, the fires have been more isolated and in sparsely populated areas. But it seems that a disproportionate number of 1^st Nations (Aboriginals) have been impacted in 2018.

The provincial government asked me to assist with recovery planning. As the farm chores were lessening, I agreed. Recovery is one of my passions. It is often overlooked, as ‘response’ takes precedence. But as the weather cooled and welcomed rains finally began, recovery efforts took center stage. This phase of emergency management is arguably the most complicated.  Here were a few challenges.

People either were relocated or they stayed in place.  Fortunately, we had no report of a death from those who stayed behind. So those that relocated were our main concern. Some lost homes, but the vast majority didn’t. However, their power may have been cut due to the fires. This could impact in a practical way, such as defrosting of freezers and refrigerators. Many, especially 1^st nations, may have had winter meat or fish in those appliances. The contents would have been spoiled. The issue was whether the frig or freezer just needed cleaning out, or was it ‘contaminated’ and had to be replaced. If so, the cost would be huge. As well as the logistics.  This is just one of the many challenges that are faced in ‘recovery’.  I was in the thick of it, as a Recovery Planner.

The short contract was enlightening in other ways. I was at the provincial level of the Recovery, based in Victoria, the capitol of BC. The next underlying level was Regional and there are 6 emergency management regions in BC, called PREOCs. Below the Region was the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), of which there might be several in each region, depending on the degree of the emergency. The EOCs supported the local authorities in their response, or recovery, actions. This might be a municipality, district, 1^st nations band, etc. You can see that there was a bit of bureaucracy.

I have worked on a few responses in the past, but never at the Provincial Emergency Coordination Center (PECC) level. I assumed maybe a dozen or so would be in this unit, because it’s several layers removed for the actual event – in this case the wildfires. Wow, was I wrong! There were at least 50 people in the PECC. And there seemed to be a constant turnover of personnel. I later realized that many were cycled thru to give experience in the PECC. But it didn’t exactly equate to efficiency.

The rains have now come, and the wildfire threat is over for 2018.  The PECC, PREOCs, and EOCs have demobilized. But the recovery for those impacted by the fires will take many months, even years.  I was glad to be a part of planning the recovery, and pleased that BC took a proactive position to emphasize this phase.  It was due to ‘lessons learned’ from past floods, wildfires, etc. that impact people long after the media has diverted its news stories elsewhere.  Let’s hope that, in an age when emergencies come fast and furiously, we commit to continually improving all phases of emergency management.

Thanks for reading.