As wildfires spark, B.C. prepares for other emergency situations as well

With the public's eyes on the soaring wildfire risk, British Columbia's emergency officials continue to monitor and prepare for other emergencies as well, staying in close contact with local governments.

The flash flooding that hit the Interior community of Savona a couple weeks ago, for example, is unusual outside of the spring thaw but triggered emergency response plans after a storm cell dumped massive amounts of rain in a small time frame.

"We like to refer to it as all-hazard preparedness," said Ian Cunnings, acting executive director of operations for the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness.

When a cluster of earthquakes rumbled off the coast of Vancouver Island last week, his teams similarly monitored for tsunami activity to see if they should enact contingency plans. They are already preparing for fall storms and continue their weekly meetings with municipalities and First Nations across the province. 

"We work closely with the River Forecast Centre and Environment and Climate Change Canada to try to get the best picture we can, where problems might be coming in order to pre-position supplies," he said.

Response and preparedness includes contractors

In an industrial area of Chilliwack, three million sand bags and 27 kilometres of tiger dams are among the supplies stockpiled by Load Warrior, a trucking and logistics company contracted by EMCR and the Ministry of Forests among other government agencies.

They have staff on call day and night to deploy supplies in any corner of the province as soon as they get the call from Cunnings' teams.

"We will travel anywhere in the province we need to deliver to and we’ll do it on a moment’s notice," said general manager, Mike Gauer. "We can be on the road within a few hours, sometimes even an hour."

Working closely with the EMCR, Gauer's crews deliver sandbags by thousand-unit packages to make sure they're stocked up before flooding season starts, but also keep standby assets. He was among the hundreds of people trying to prevent devastating flooding during the 2021 atmospheric river catastrophe from spreading even further.

"We were on site when the Barrowtown pump station was about to be overrun," he said. "We're very proud of the service we can provide and it's very rewarding to be there at a moment's notice when people are in need."

Climate change posing new challenges

A small army of experts within EMCR is in constant contact with meteorologists, hydrologists, avalanche technicians, seismologists, hazmat specialists and other agencies for early warning signs of a potential emergency.

But Cunnings says it's been climate change that's prompted the biggest changes, requiring modifications in staffing and response as weather events don't unfold as they used to.

"They're longer duration, more intense events," he noted. "People should have emergency plans, even when they're travelling."