Being ready for emergencies is serious business for the team at the District of Clearwater. We’ve done a lot of things recently to get ready for the challenges of the emergency situations that could get thrown at us. The back-up generation systems for the Dutch Lake Community Centre and for two of our wells are now functioning and ready to go in the event of a power outage or other emergency situation.
Our new VFD Initial Attack program now has a new to us specialized response truck, a unit originally outfitted for CalFire, California’s version of the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS). We are now actively recruiting for Initial Attack crew members, so if learning the skills to fight wildfire interests you, contact the Clearwater Fire Department.
Our new, expanded FireSmart team is hard at work doing wildfire fuel reduction around town and we encourage you to get a FireSmart Assessment of your home; you can even do a self-assessment using the tools at the https://firesmartbc.ca/ website.
The District of Clearwater management and staff are in a constant cycle of refreshing, upgrading, and testing their Emergency Management skills, working in partnership with locally based volunteer emergency organizations like Emergency Support Services (ESS), other local volunteer fire departments, local RCMP and RCMP Victim Services as well as our regional and provincial partners like BC Wildfire Service (BCWS), BC Parks, and the Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD).
Our management, key staff, and council regularly participate in things like Clearwater wildfire roundtable meetings, provincial emergency preparedness calls, and regional Drought and Wildfire updates.
All that said, there is a lot you can do to reduce risk and be prepared. Top of mind for myself and council is FireSmarting your home and property. Get rid of your ornamental evergreens, the cedars and junipers, and plant some nice non-flammable flowers or deciduous plants. Be prepared for an evacuation or other incident by getting your personal emergency plans and supplies together. When things get towards High and Extreme on the provincial Wildfire Scale, have your bug out or ‘to go’ bag ready and your evacuation plans in place.
Another thing you can do is volunteer with our various local fire departments and fire brigades, with Emergency Support Services (ESS) and other local service clubs. Emergency preparedness is a team effort, we’re all in it together!
Mayor Merlin Blackwell and the District of Clearwater council
