Preparing for the Worst, Hoping for the Best

July 7, 2020

By Robert Doane

A staging event recently took place at the CN Centre in Prince George to look at a potential large-scale evacuation during the 2020 wildfire season, and what registration could look like.

The City of Prince George hosted the event in partnership with the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako, the Regional District of Fraser Fort George, the Red Cross and Carrier Sekani Family Services (CSFS). The purpose was to better understand what registering evacuees would look like in a COVID-19 pandemic environment.

The Wildfire season looks favorable this year, with a cooler than average spring and, so far, a rainy summer. Even though the fire danger rating across the province is ‘very low,’ according to the BC Wildfire Service, few can forget the impacts of the massive fires that occurred in both 2017 and 2018. More of B.C. was burned in wildfires in 2018 than any year on record, and saw more than 3200 people removed from communities with thousands more who were put on alert. Even more people were forced from their homes in 2017 as a result of widespread fires that year.

CSFS is now looking to determine its role in future fire events including how it may be able to assist in registration while supporting Member Nations. As part of the training session, a number of CSFS staff members acted as ‘evacuees’ and ‘registrants.’ In the mock session, each member took turns handling registration following COVID-19 rules and guidelines.

In the event evacuees are directed to the City of Prince George, the CN Centre will continue to be the main facility for registration.  As practiced in the recent mock exercise, people would stay in their vehicles until it was time to register. There would be a required series of pre-screening questions prior to registration, and if found to be safe from COVID-19, an evacuee would take a number and wait in their car, or stand in a line while practising physical distancing with visible markers on the ground. If someone is suspected of having COVID-19 symptoms, there will be precautions in place to allow for them to register.

When an evacuee enters the lobby, they would be required to wear PPE or a face mask and properly sanitize their hands. As each person entered the building, they would be greeted by an ambassador before being directed to a registration table along a clearly marked one-way floor path to a sanitized registration table.

The tables would each include a cup for sanitized pens, and a transparent divider allowing for the evacuee to sit on one side and the registrar on the other side. Following each correspondence, the table space and materials would be sanitized before the next evacuee. Each station would include relevant resource materials (brochures and transit information) and a supplier list. Registration using the electronic registration system will take anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes, depending on the needs of the evacuee.

With more rain in the forecast, our fire risk will likely remain low, but thanks to this partnership, we are hopeful that CSFS will be more than ready should things take a turn for the worst. Hadih to the City of Prince George for organizing such a worthwhile exercise.

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