There are almost 6,000 people living in the UniverCity development on Burnaby Mountain, and their community association fears inadequate emergency plans are putting residents at risk.
"One of the concerns is emergency response times," said Theresa Burley with the UniverCity Community Association.
According to numbers cited by the association at a meeting Wednesday, 98 per cent of the time, first responders do not meet the nine-minute expectation when called to an emergency.
Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley acknowledged there is an issue, and said the city is looking at adding another fire hall.
"There’s no question we have to improve those response times," Hurley told CTV News.
The other major concern is "having an evacuation plan," said Burley.
Community members say there can be upwards of 40,000 people on the mountain, including students and staff on the Simon Fraser University campus, but there are only two roads that can be used for an evacuation.
"It doesn’t feel like enough has really been done," resident Kirsten Starcher told CTV News. "I’m living under this threat of possible disasters."
Hurley said for the full emergency plan to be in place, the municipality needs to work with Trans Mountain. "We’re just waiting for them to tell us what their plans are so that we can dove tail with those plans to complete the public safety circle."
Residents want to see that sooner rather than later.
