The Thompson-Nicola Regional District is applying for $30,000 in grant funding to review and update 11 existing evacuation plans that cover a number of unincorporated communities.
TNRD Emergency Program Coordinator, Mike Knauff, says the updated plans are needed to ensure there are safe evacuation routes for people as well as animals in the event of an emergency.
“The residents know how they got there. If they’re looking at the TNRD to tell them how to get out of their residence, they may be a little bit misinformed because residents know the land base better than we do,” Knauff said. “We’re trying to look at places where if the primary access is gone, what is secondary access look like?”
Speaking during the TNRD’s Committee of the Whole Meeting last Friday, Knauff said some of the areas where the work is expected to happen are “pretty complicated.”
“If you get up into the Pressy Lake, Green Lake, Bonaparte Lake area, its a maze of Forest Service Roads,” he said. ” We are trying to pout that into our corporate knowledge and a plan, so that the next generation of emergency managers know this too.”
During Thursday’s Boarding meeting, TNRD Directors voted to allow staff to apply for money from the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund (CEPF) – Public Notification and Evacuation Route Planning program. A report to the Board said that the program aims to “enhance the resiliency of local governments in response to emergencies.”
The plan is to use the $30,000 to review and update the existing plans for the following areas:
- Adams Lake-N- East Barriere Lakes- Johnson Lake- Sinmax Creek Valley
- Avola-Blue River
- Chase Creek Valley
- Lac Le Jeune-Mile High-Mamit Lake-Highland Valley
- Loon Lake-20 Mile-Venables
- Louis Creek-Exlou-Darfield-Little Fort
- McLure-Vinsulla-Black Pines- Heffley
- Nicola Valley
- Tranquille Valley-Red Lake-Criss Creek Copper Creek
- Upper Nicola Valley-Stump Lake-Douglas Plateau-Pennask Lake
- Westwold-Monte Lake-Monte Creek-Pritchard
While grant applications are due by April 26, it is not clear when or if the TNRD will be successful in its ask, or when the planning work will get underway.
But the regional district used $27,625 from the same grant last year to update five other evacuation plans – with that work expected to be done by this spring. Those five routes included:
- 70 Mile House – Green Lake – Big Bar – Jesmond
- Blackpool – Clearwater – Vavenby
- Cherry Creek – Savona – Thompson River Estates – Walhachin
- Paul Lake – Pinantan – Rivershore – Del Oro
- Spences Bridge – Shaw Springs – Lytton – Kanaka Bar
“Part of the plan is talking with the Ministry of Forests and their engineering division to get someone to drive those roads because resource roads change on a year to year basis, whether someone is hauling whether they’re actually still being maintained,” Knauff said.
“It is something that we’re going to have to determine on the day of the event or when we’re approaching the alert stage and we’re looking at this.”