With temperatures plunging down to near -40 over the second week of January, it was appropriate for council to discuss the District’s approach to extreme weather events.
Just over a year ago, at the December 5, 2022 council meeting, a letter from the BC Government was received, outlining guidelines for local authorities on preparing for extreme weather events.
The focus of that document was on creating warming shelters. The definition of “extreme weather conditions”, according to the “Assistance to Shelter” Regulations is any of the following conditions: Any of the following conditions are prescribed for the Interior Region and the North Region:
- Environment Canada is forecasting, for the next 24-hour period, a temperature of –10° Celsius or lower as the lowest temperature for that period;
- According to Environment Canada, the temperature currently is –10° Celsius or lower;
- Environment Canada, for the next 24-hour period, is forecasting a temperature of 0° Celsius or lower as the lowest temperature for that period and has issued a weather warning;
- According to Environment Canada, the temperature currently is 0° Celsius or lower and Environment Canada has issued a weather warning.
After some discussion back in 2022, council requested a report be completed by staff to provide them with an understanding as to the current practices undertaken by the District during these types of events.
According to a report written by Director of Protective Services Dustin Curry and presented at the most recent Policies and Priorities Committee meeting, the District does not have any formal process or policy currently in place dealing directly with weather related emergencies. “Instead,” says Curry, “administration uses their discretion to ascertain if the opening of a warming or cooling shelter is warranted based upon guidance from Emergency Management and Climate Readiness BC (EMCR), and Environment, and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).”
Over the past couple of years, says Curry, the Province has made significant enhancements to guidance for local governments in relations to extreme weather emergencies, including:
- The BC Heat Alert and Response System (BC HARS)
- Climate Ready BC – a provincial website dedicated to how B.C. is rising to the challenge of disaster and climate risk.
- Community Response Locations – Extreme Temperature Portal
- The new Emergency and Disaster Management Act
Curry says the District of Tumbler Ridge utilizes an “all-hazards” approach to emergency management in the community. “Meaning that the organization is not solely focused on any one specific threat and takes preparedness for all possible emergencies into consideration. The identification of such emergencies and their significance to Tumbler Ridge is conducted through a Hazard, Vulnerability and Risk Assessment as part of the District’s Emergency Response Plan (ERP).”
That plan was last revised in 2018. Ironically, it was scheduled to be reviewed last year, but due to the emergencies experienced, has been rescheduled for this year. “It is the intention of Administration to incorporate the new resources previously listed along with those required in accordance with the Emergency and Disaster Management Act in the 2024 ERP review,” says Curry.
Councillor Norbury says he thinks a specific policy would be a good idea. “We’ve had instances where a policy would be warranted,” he says. “Last year we had some major heat issues and we’ve had to create cooling centres within the community centre, and I think it’s appropriate to do the same in the wintertime. If the power goes out and it’s freezing, having a place that people can go is a good thing. I would recommend to have some communication elements added. It’s great for us to have these, but if the information doesn’t reach the intended recipients then it’s moot. I think is important for us to have non-electronic communication. I think it’s easy for us to rely upon social media or the website, but sometimes that may work. We may not be able to transmit that way. I know it’s a daunting task. How are we going to do it? Smoke signals? That’s not gonna work. But I think it’s something for us to consider.
Mayor Krakowka agrees. “Not everybody has access to the internet or understands how to use it. Maybe we need to look at something and again budgetary discussions. Maybe a communication board somewhere within the downtown. Not just for this but for information about loose cats or off-leash dogs or where you get dog licenses… whatever. I know we have some places in the community: the library, the community centre has a board, the post office… But if we had a District of Tumbler Ridge board where stuff like this could go on, we could connect with people that are not connected to the internet.
Councillor Gulick says there are user groups in town that could also be used as points of contact. “The Seniors Centre, for instance. We could also make sure we have our town hall events, we could have that conversation. Tell people this is part of a new thing that we’re doing for the community. I remember when we had that three-day outage and the community centre was the place for folks to go. But it’s also important that all staff know. Sometimes we forget that a lot of people go immediately to staff, particularly at the community centre. These folks are the main point of contact for people, and we need to keep that on our radar as well.
Councillor Dusseault asks if the district has a loudspeaker system. Chief Curry says no. “It was proposed to council in the early 2000s, just after we had our first wildfire event as a means to try and inform everybody en masse,” he says. “But there’s a lot of logistics that come with that and when does it actually get used what’s it used for, and how to test it, and so it ultimately didn’t come to fruition.”
Council passed a motion directing staff to begin working on a new extreme weather emergency policy.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.