Given the fire danger in the Nelson area, the city’s fire chief thinks all residents should be working on their own evacuation plan, and not relying too much on local government.
“People who have their own plan are the ones who fare very well,” Len MacCharles told the Star.
Local governments do not have the resources to “rapidly evacuate large numbers of people and help them on a one to one basis.”
MacCharles said evacuations can range from being given an alert with a few days preparation notice, to an extreme emergency “where something has happened right on the edge of town and we need to get out of town fast and suddenly, and it is very chaotic.”
He said people need to be as self-sufficient as possible, and allow local governments to “assist those few people who really need evacuations, those who need help with it.”
This could include people in the hospital and in seniors’ facilities, he said.
Residents can sign up to receive free emergency alerts by text message and voice call. Go to www.rdck.ca and click on Emergency Alerts. The RDCK website has a suggested family emergency plan and a list of what to put in a family 72-hour emergency kit during an evacuation alert.