With the BC Wildfire Service classing the Meachen Creek fire as 70 per cent contained, and the evacuation alert lifted for the City of Kimberley, Mayor Don McCormick and city staff have had some time to reflect on the experience, and learn from it.
“It’s been a lot of year since Kimberley has been close to this kind of thing,” McCormick said.
The alert definitely had an impact on the local business community, he said.
“The middle of August is prime time for visitors. Accommodators are selling out on weekends, there are all kinds of events. As soon as the alert was announced, there was a mass exodus of visitors from town. From the campground, the accommodators. The reality is, once the alert came on, people who didn’t live here, left.
“So we went right into shoulder season in mid-August.”
McCormick said that prior to the alert, the smoke wasn’t really having an affect.
“We’ve had a couple of summers of smoke drifting in from fires further away, so people are somewhat used to that, although the fact that the Black Spur race went ahead was amazing.”
McCormick also learned that you can never have too much communication during an event like the alert.
“It was important to try to communicate that we would have more than a moment’s notice should the alert switch to an order. We had lots of time because the alert came when it did. In Fort McMurray, they went from alert to order in two hours. Clearly the alert in Kimberley was brought in soon enough for people to prepare.”
McCormick says he has heard from some people who felt the alert went on for too long, but he says the City doesn’t really have any control over that.
“We are not the decision makers in the chain of command. There is Emergency Operations and the Incident Command. They recommended the alert, and I signed it. We don’t get to decide when it comes off.”
Similarly, the relocation of those in seniors and other health facilities was not a City decision, but part of Interior Health policy.
“You find out all these things as you work through the emergency plan. Up to now, the plan was a desk top exercise. What we learned will enhance our emergency preparedness.”
One of the things learned, as Search and Rescue personnel and other volunteers went door to door to hand out alert notices, is that there are about 200 people in Kimberley with some sort of mobility issue who will need assistance should an evacuation be ordered.
“Now we have a list,” McCormick said.
Now that the threat is lessened, McCormick hopes the business community can see a return of visitors in the last five weeks up to Thanksgiving.
“Hopefully all the folks who planned to be here in September will come. The weather is cooperating, it’s beautiful. Businesses are posting pictures of the clear skies on social media and telling people to come on down.”
