VERNON – The images coming out of this week’s evacuation from Fort McMurray are harrowing: fleeing residents creeping forward in bumper to bumper traffic as flames devour roadside trees and smoke darkens the sky.
The mass evacuations taking place raise questions about how the Okanagan would handle a similar situation.
In the North Okanagan emergency management officials say there is a written plan in place that details how the region would respond to anything from a house fire to the kind of large scale mass evacuation that has taken place in Fort McMurray this week.
That plan has never been released publicly because officials believe publicly identifying evacuation routes ahead time could cause confusion if routes change on the day of a disaster.
“We don’t release those plans because every situation, every event, every kind of disaster is different. The planning that goes into it is different. It depends what day of the week it happens, what time of the day it happens, what part of the year it happens in,” explains emergency program coordinator Helen Sinclair.
“What kind of incident it is and where the incident occurs is also going to change. You could say to someone who lives up on Hospital Hill, ‘Use Highway 97 to get out. That is an evacuation route.’ But what if the incident is right on the other side?”
Evacuating people by road is considered the best option, because they can bring possessions and pets, but evacuations by air or water are also possibilities.
“We do have good transport out north, south, east and even west if we have to,” says Vernon deputy fire chief Jack Blair. “We can get people out by boat if we have to.”
Sinclair is currently in the midst of a routine review of the areas plans.
“In the North Okanagan, our program, we tend to go through our plan every six months just because maybe something has changed or a player has changed in the game we want to make sure we are up on everything.”
Vernon’s fire department says local officials will look at what can be learned from Fort McMurray’s experience.
“After this incident we will see what went right, what went wrong and try to take any ideas to make our plans even better and more efficient in case we do have something. We live in a high risk area, anything could happen,” says Blair.
Sinclair says there is also a lot individuals can do to prepare.
She says residents should familiarize themselves with the hazards in their own neighbourhood, develop a family plan of how you would reconnect if you were separated when a disaster hit and pack a grab-and-go bag with important items that you want to take in the event of an evacuation.
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