Emergency Services

Emergency Services:

• Fire Services: Provide location, non-emergency lines, and Chief officers of all RDMW fire departments, by community. Also provide other relevant, regional fire services information including bans and advisories.
• BCEHS: Provide location and non-emergency lines for all BCEHS stations within RDMW boundaries.
• RCMP: Provide location and non-emergency lines for all RCMP detachments within RDMW boundaries
• Perhaps a small page on North Island 9-1-1 and how emergencies are dispatched in the area.
• The two above may not be RDMW services but is important public information in regards to emergency services in their area.

Emergency Preparedness:

A statement regarding the purpose and mission of RDMW emergency management and then be subdivided to the following pages:

• Be Prepared. This page would be dedicated to self-preparation for the first 72 hours of a disaster and provide planning resources for homes and small businesses.
• RDMW Emergency Program: A page dedicated to showing which communities we serve, making the Regional North Island Emergency Response Plan available, and a write-up on how the communities would work together during a disaster.
• Regional Hazards. Place the “Tsunami, earthquakes, wildfires, landslides” info in here and arrange in a way that’s a little more user-friendly.
• Tsunami awareness. This is addressed in the previous proposed page but is of big enough concern for coastal Vancouver Island communities, that it is common for it to get its own page with additional info. Additional information includes basic Tsunami hazard information, communities at risk, community evacuation sites, any events happening within the region related to Tsunami awareness, and warning siren test dates.
• FireSmart. This is something with lots of easy resources and gives the community a chance to participate in their own fire prevention, so its always a good add-on. We should also avoid using Strathcona’s information, if possible. There are lots of government resources on FireSmart.

First Nations Partnership:

This page would acknowledge the different First Nations communities within RDMW boundaries and discuss how the RDMW is collaborating with these communities to increase disaster resilience. Specifics to come, as it will be shaped by the outcome of our on-going Indigenous engagement project. This will help to show our commitment to Indigenous Emergency Management engagement, as recently required by the Disaster & Emergency Management Act.

Volunteer Opportunities:

• Firefighting: This page would provide information and resources on which volunteer fire departments are currently hiring and what will be expected of candidates.
• Other emergency volunteer opportunities as they arise.

General Notes:

• There is currently information presented on the pages that I believe could be removed as, although accurate, it overcomplicates the page and isn’t necessarily beneficial to the public. Examples of this are: Levels of emergency response, emergency plan objectives (more or less a repeat of the NIREP description), information on webinars that occurred last year, etc.  
• I’m not convinced that the Emergency Incidents page needs to exist. This type of page exists in some municipalities, but what you typically find on those pages are live, auto-updated fire department responses. I don’t believe that’s required here. Also, it’s not of much benefit for the community to have a “submit a report” option, as the far better option is calling 911, calling a non-emergency line, reporting a wildfire to the province, or contacting the emergency coordinator. If it is deemed that the roadworks contact info is of importance, those contacts can be listed elsewhere.

I also think the “Reducing Accidental 9-1-1 Calls” page is unnecessary. We could shorten the amount of information provided and place it at the end of the Emergency Services page. This is more of an additional awareness campaign rather than a service that people will want to engage with.