By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
Dunster resident Birgit Stutz tries to keep on top of the state of Robson Valley wildfires – she checks local Facebook pages regularly, and has signed up for the Regional District’s Public Alerting System (PAS), which automates emails and phone calls when an evacuation alert is issued. So when she logged in to Facebook the afternoon of July 22nd, she was surprised to find that the evacuation alert for the Beaver River wildfire had been escalated to an order earlier that morning.
“I wouldn’t have known about it unless I’d gone on Facebook to see that it had been changed to an order,” Stutz told The Goat. “Not everybody uses Facebook, and there’s a reason we sign up for these notifications: I can’t constantly check Facebook for updates. That’s why it’s nice to get these alerts on my phone, because my phone’s always on me.”
Stutz did receive a PAS notification when the evacuation order was downgraded to an alert on the 26th, and she does not live in the area subjected to the alert. Still, she says the experience has made her less confident in the Regional District’s ability to notify residents when a wildfire grows more severe.
Stutz’s neighbour, Anika Venuto, also checks Facebook regularly, along with the BC Wildfire Service dashboard. She and her partner recently decided to sign up for the PAS system to get notified of a fire’s progression as soon as possible, rather than relying on Facebook for up-to-date information.
Coincidentally, Venuto received a notification about the Dunster-Croydon wildfire evacuation alert that evening. But after the PAS did not send any more updates on the fire, she began to grow frustrated.
“We (my partner and I) were concerned that information wasn’t being updated regularly and were unsure if things would be updated through the night because at this point the Dunster-Croydon fire was moving down the mountain quickly,” Venuto said in a message to The Goat. “We were worried that neighbours with livestock wouldn’t be notified in time.”
Like Stutz, she was not notified of the Beaver River evacuation order when it was issued the next day. While she does not live in the area that was put under the order, she was disappointed that the PAS did not notify her that the situation had escalated.
“After that point, I went back to using Facebook as my primary resource, as the BC Wildfire Service maps weren’t being updated and I felt that I couldn’t rely on the notification service,” Venuto said.
Evacuation order done the old-fashioned way
Dunster resident Bob Thompson’s house was sandwiched between two wildfires: about 15 kilometres away from the Beaver River fire on one side, and 10 kilometres away from the Hailey Creek fire on the other.
He assumed that an evacuation alert or order would be mass-issued to his cellphone, like the BC RCMP do for Amber Alerts. He was not aware of the PAS, which residents have to voluntarily sign up for on the RDFFG website.
Thompson, whose house does fall in the Dunster-Croydon evacuation alert area, says he found out about the alert when the RCMP visited the Dunster General Store to notify residents of the alert. They handed him papers with information on how to prepare for a potential evacuation order, he said.
“My suggestion would be a little public awareness campaign so people know they have to sign up for (PAS notifications),” Thompson said. “It is a worry, because what if that fire was right next door to me?”
“It’s not like we were outraged,” Thompson added, speaking of a discussion he had with his wife about the alert. “We just didn’t know, we were wondering why it didn’t work on our phones. I kind of think it should be part of the Amber Alert system so that people get the message no matter what.”
Venuto and Stutz agree that more public-facing messaging about wildfires is in order. Stutz believes notifications should be issued for more than just evacuation alerts.
“We should get a notice that there’s a fire to begin with, we should get a notice that it’s grown something like 200 more hectares, we should get a notice if it’s contained or if it’s out of control,” she said. “Not just when there’s an evacuation order and you have half an hour to leave, and you didn’t know there was a fire.”
Stutz left a comment on an RDFFG Facebook post raising her concerns. The Regional District hasn’t responded, she said, but she hopes to bring the issue up with MLA Shirley Bond as well.
To PAS, or not to PAS?
In an email to The Goat, RDFFG Public Information Officer Hilary Erasmus sent a summary of the Regional District’s communications regarding the Beaver River fire. While a PAS notification was issued for the evacuation alert, the District opted not to send one for the order issued two days later.
“Given this was a smaller group and to verify that the residents of all 10 properties were aware of the new (evacuation order), McBride RCMP were asked to physically deliver official EO documentation,” Erasmus said.
This also gave RCMP officers the opportunity to talk to residents about livestock relocation and the emergency support services available to them, she added.
Additionally, the Regional District posted about the evacuation alert and subsequent order on its Facebook page and the McBride Discussion Board Facebook. It also uploaded a news release on the RDFFG website, which was emailed to all e-news subscribers, according to Erasmus.
“The current practice for evaluating PAS use is to determine how impacted residents can be reached in the most timely and effective manner,” Erasmus said in a follow-up email.
Whereas the evacuation alert impacted 50 properties, the order only applied to 10 – this made it possible for the RCMP to deliver the evacuation order in-person, said Erasmus.
“This delivery method was also selected because it’s not guaranteed that residents of those 10 impacted properties were subscribed to the PAS and would receive the (evacuation order) information,” she wrote.
The Regional District’s primary way of communicating emergency information is through the rdffg.ca website, according to Erasmus. The District also posts this information on Facebook.
For information on fire spread and suppression efforts, residents should look to BC Wildfire Service (BCWS), Erasmus said.
“The Regional District works with BCWS to utilize their information when a wildfire is going to directly impact our residents,” she wrote. “We have the authority and capacity to communicate Evacuation Alerts and/or Evacuation Orders.”
After Emergency Operations Centre activations, the Regional District conducts a review to determine what can be improved in future emergencies, according to Erasmus. Residents can email their comments to [email protected].
In the meantime, Stutz is sticking with Facebook for any subsequent wildfire updates – but she’s hoping for more frequent communications from the Regional District after watching the rapid evacuation of Jasper.
“I’ve been on Facebook a lot lately because I want to be updated, but when you have something like half an hour to get out, I might not see it,” she said. “We should have a system that gives us more updates.”
