Community Emergency Plan
In British Columbia local governments are responsible for providing the initial response to most emergencies occuring within their boundaries. The Fraser Valley Regional District is the local government authority for its 8 electoral areas under the Emergency Program Act since it has adopted power through its Emergency Management Program Extended Service Area Establishment Bylaw No. 0136, 1997.
FVRD Response
In accordance with the Local Authority Emergency Management Regulations, the Regional District is responsible for the following during emergency response and recovery operations:
- Notify those who may suffer loss or may be harmed by an emergency or impending disaster.
- Coordinate the provision of food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and medical services.
- Establish the priority for restoring essential services provided by the Regional District.
- Recommend to service providers the priorities for restoring essential services not provided by the Regional District
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The emergency response is directed and controlled by FVRD officials, who are authorized and responsible for providing the essential services necessary to minimize the effects of an emergency on the residents of the Regional District's electoral areas.
Site
Site operation will be conducted following the British Columbia Incident Command System and all emergency workers will be integrated under an Incident Commander, including personnel from RCMP Detachments. Site response is directed by single on-site Incident Command Post (ICP).
The Incident Commander will request the support directly to the EOC Director or, if activated, to the Operations Section Chief.
Response Objectives
In accordance with the FVRD Basic Plan, the objectives (in order of priority) of any response are to:
- Provide for the safety and health of all responders
- Save lives
- Reduce suffering
- Protect public health
- Protect government infrastructure
- Protect property
- Protect the environment
- Reduce economic and social losses
Evacuation
When emergencies occur that affect the community, it is typically nescessary to get residents to do one of two activities; either evacuate or shelter-in-place.
When factors such as encroaching fire or floods endanger the community residents, they may need to evacuate the area until it is safe to return.
Evacuation is the process of removing persons from an area of danger to an area of safety. Depending on the nature and scope of the event, evacuation may be either local, affecting a single building or group of buildings, or widespread affecting a whole community.
Evacuation Stages
Stage 1 - Evacuation Alert
Evacuation Alert may allow for the population at risk to begin an orderly preparation to voluntarily leave the affected area if nescessary.
Stage 2 - Evacuation Order
In some instances an Evacuation Order is immediate and no evacuation alert is given. In other cases an Evacuation Order may first be preceded by an evacuation alert.
To order an evacuation, the head of a local governement authority must declare a "State of Local Emergency" as enabled under the Emergency Program Act. The local police have the authority to enforce the evacuation order.
Click here for more information on the stages of evacuation.
Shelter in Place
Occasionally an evacuation may cause more danger to residents than staying in place. In these cases such as sudden release of hazardous gas, sudden storms, earthquakes, or impending terrorist attack, residents may need to shelter in place.
In the event of shelter in place, information will be broadcasted via radio and television. The local police may also do notification using a public address system.
Click here for information on how to shelter in place.