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Northern
Volume 57 No. 45
Haisla’s volunteer firefighters praised for efforts during 7.7 earthquake Cameron Orr The Haisla Volunteer Fire Department was being praised by residents through social media as members went door-to-door in Kitamaat Village telling people they needed to get to higher ground. Andrew Bolton Jr., Fire Services Emergency Coordinator for the Haisla fire department, said that there were hiccups in getting information to their department from other levels of government — down phone lines and Internet compounded the issue — but they say that the approximately 400 residents that needed evacuating were cooperative to volunteers. The majority of the fire department reported to duty at the fire hall shortly after the earthquake just after 8 p.m. on Oct. 27 and even Haisla Nation Council members showed up to offer any assistance they could. “A lot of people were really cooperative,” said Bolton about the homeowners who were forced to leave. There was however some confusion regarding possible danger in the hours after the earthquake. Bolton said that with phone lines not working and Internet down meant they couldn’t access necessary information until about half an hour after the quake. When they finally got a working phone line they rang the Kitimat Fire Department for information and that’s how they learned about the tsunami advisory. As they mobilized volunteers to warn residents to leave, they were in touch with the Provincial Emergency Program, who advised the fire department to use the PEP website to get their updates. By then Internet was working but Bolton said it took over an hour for them to see the first bulletin posted online from the government. That’s an issue that seemed to be shared universally, as executive director of operations for Emergency Management BC Chris Duffy fielded numerous questions from reporters about delayed information from the province. “Nothing was coming up,” Bolton told the Sentinel. As for residents, those with vehicles got in their cars and picked up their families who didn’t have a ride, and took off either to the Village’s newest subdivision or into town. Bolton says homeowners in their Bench subdivision were eager to open their doors to people forced from their homes to provide shelter and heat. And while some people also had family in the town of Kitimat, many people had no where to go and Bolton said some people just parked their cars at the viewpoint to wait the event out. “That’s something we’re going to have to work together with on the town side,” he said. Future plans could involve opening up local schools or churches, he said.
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The new management at the fire hall is just Peachy. Cadence Peachey was picked as the Fire Chief for a day, the annual reward to a local student for being fire ready. The grade 3 Nechako Elementary Student learned the ropes of firefighting from Justin Bogaert, who is just off frame in this photo.
Lessons learned from quake Cameron Orr The Kitimat Fire Department and the Kitimat Emergency Program are in general happy with the way the Oct. 27 earthquake and tsunami warning was handled, but communication with the public will definitely be a priority as they learn from the event. Fire Chief Trent Bossence said that an Emergency Operations Centre was immediately established at the fire hall, together with emergency coordinator Bob McLeod, as well as representatives from local industries such as Bechtel and Rio Tinto Alcan. Phone lines were down for the fire department for approximately half an hour
after the earthquake but cell phones still worked allowing the members to be in touch with each other. Bossence said that, as with many others in the province, information was slow coming from Emergency Management BC, but that they don’t rely entirely on that group to give them information, turning as well to other main sources such as the West Coast And Alaska Tsunami Centre. “There’s multiple sources we can get information from,” he said. From information updates through their various channels they were confident that Kitimat had a low-risk of damage, save for areas below tide lines, namely ma-
rinas, so people at MK Bay Marina, for instance, were advised to get off their boats. A lot of information we being shared among emergency responders in various communities. Bossence said he was quickly calling Prince Rupert’s fire chief for information. Of course all their work didn’t do much to stem the tide of misinformation being transmitted through social media. “There was a lot of information and misinformation being sent out on social media. It’s unfortunate but it’s also a reality,” said Bossence. Communication is one of the largest takeaways from the event, and how to
recognize the impact of social media. “I totally understand the frustration of our community and not knowing what’s going on,” he said. As for the possibility of evacuations, Bossence said the tried-and-true way is to just knock on doors, and driving down streets with megaphones alerting people to the danger. While social media can be a way to spread information, he said in an evacuation setting it would be challenging as it would take away control. As for some of the takeaways from this, he said earthquake risks are proven real and it’s important to keep yourself ready.
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