A palpable interest and emotions were evident, at a Cariboo Regional District (CRD) wildfire consultation meeting at the Watch Lake Community Hall on Oct. 29. Other consultation meetings took place this week in Forest Grove, Interlakes, and Williams Lake.
With several dozen area residents present at the Watch Lake meeting, comments were both positive and negative with queries made regarding the firefighting activities and enforcement of the CRD evacuations, along with various other related hot-button issues.
The meetings are led by Tim Conrad, and his associate, Lloyd Piehl (both of Butterfly Effect Communications) who were presenting on behalf of the CRD and were also part of the information team during its emergency operations this summer.
Some residents asked questions about how homes were prioritized in terms of structural protection or how evacuation orders were handled. Other attendees voiced thanks to RCMP, firefighters and other involved in the effort this year.
Some of those in attendance had been more closely involved with the effort such as volunteer firefighters asking questions about internal communications.
During his presentation, Conrad noted a Facebook Live video event will be held by the CRD later in November, where people who have more to say can participate asking questions and hearing responses from various agency representatives “on the spot.”
“We will be doing the report … on all of the information we collect during this consultation process, and through that report, there will be some things that will change.
According to the CRD, the purpose of the consultations is for residents to have a voice.
“Consultations are notoriously difficult, and we are hoping these family-friendly meetings will allow all residents who experienced the many challenges of the wildfire season to have a voice,” says Conrad.
Additional consultations will take place in the South Cariboo on Monday, Nov. 13 starting at 6:30 p.m. at the 108 Mile Ranch Community Hall and on Nov. 14 starting at 6:30 p.m. at the 100 Mile House Community Hall
More information and a full list of dates and community hall locations for the remaining CRD consultation meetings are available online at www.cariboord.ca (select News & Events, Whats New).