The Cariboo Regional District presented a new community evacuation plan to residents of 103 Mile House, 105 Mile House, and 108 Mile Ranch on July 16.
The plan was presented by Paul Edmonds of Red Dragon Consulting Ltd, which is an emergency management and resilience company. Edmonds was previously the director of the BC Association of Emergency Managers.
"The Community Evacuation Plan is aimed at preparedness for the community to make sure they're aware of travel time required, how long a strategic evacuation would happen, which is different to a tactical evacuation, how long that would take to enable the emergency operations centre to help the planning tools to make some good informed decisions," noted Edmonds.
The plan outlines possible evacuation routes and how much time it would take for people to get out of the community in a strategic evacuation. According to the map presented,103 Mile House is divided into three evacuation zones, 105 Mile House area has its own separate zone and the 108 Mile Ranch is divided into four evacuation zones.
The primary evacuation route would be to head north on Highway 97, with the secondary evacuation route would see evacuees go through Helena Lake Road, eventually connecting with Wright Station Road and Highway 97 at the northwestern tip of Lac La Hache. Other evacuation routes that were brought up included a Forest Service Road to Helena Lake Road, 1300 FSR and Exeter Road - Tatton Station Road to Helena Road and Wright Station Road, and Wilcox Road to Eagle Creek Road.
Around 35 people showed up when the plan was presented to the community in mid-July and some had questions to ask Edmonds, such as Pamela Fairs, a resident of 108 Mile Ranch, who had to evacuate during the 2017 wildfires to Prince George. Fairs was evacuated through the Interlakes Highway (Highway 24), and then north on Highway 5 until she had to go left on Highway 16. According to Google Maps, the distance from 108 Mile Ranch to Prince George using that route takes 641 kilometres.
"That's a long drive, because there were already fires in Williams Lake. So you couldn't go that route. So that was a big issue for people because you can't get there on one tank of fuel and things like that," Fairs stated.
Fairs said that since 2017, there have been improvements to the way the CRD manages emergency services, such as the establishment of their own notification system. However, she still has concerns related to electric vehicles.
"One of my friends, who has an electric truck, he couldn't get to Prince George without recharging his vehicle."
Darlene LaPointe, another resident of 108 Mile Ranch, came to the event out of due diligence.
"I need to know what to do," LaPointe said.
She owns property in 108 Mile Ranch - and LaPointe has stated that she is more than prepared to evacuate.
"It's a yearly event where you have a prep, grab and (be ready to go)," LaPointe said. "When it gets warm, dry and hot, crunchy outside, then you are already prepared for it."
LaPointe says she looks forward to the evacuation plan being posted on the CRD's website.
Irene Israel, the CRD's manager of emergency program services, noted that it is always important to always be prepared to evacuate.
"So that concept of preparedness isn't alien. It isn't something that we're starting from scratch, but it's a message that has to be said and reset and repeated multiple times just so that it's top of mind because we've had rains the past couple of weeks and people have started being a little relaxed."
The plan was made possible thanks to a grant from the Union of British Columbia Municipalities's Emergency Preparedness Fund, which is a suite of funding options set aside for applicants to develop new evacuation route and public notification plans. The CRD received around $29,500.00 to build this evacuation plan.
