Town of Smithers Emergency Preparedness Program
- Being prepared for an emergency is everyone's responsibility.
- Talk to your families about Emergency Preparedness (EP); for example: Be Prepared Not Scared (PDF). Children need reassurance, and a plan, especially if they are watching Katrina on TV. PIck up an Emergency Supplies Checklist (PDF) at the Town Office.
- Be familiar with other community emergency plans. They may affect you and your family; for example: Your children's school or the Lodge your uncle lives in. If there was an emergency, do you have an out of town/province family contact person who can relay information for you? Do you know that you are not supposed to use the telephones because the call load can kill our communications? Use it only for emergency, not to chat about the weather.
- Look at Emergency Management BC to get good information about what is available for you personally, locally, in your Municipality, Province from the Federal Government.
- Emergency Social Services has 5,500 volunteers in the Province (about 30 in Smithers). We are here to assist with food, clothing, and lodging for the first 72 hours after a disaster. We also have mutual aid agreements with neighbouring communities for human resources and accommodations. We have agreements with local suppliers to help us in an emergency. This is a good time to say "Thank You" to them.
- However, in a disaster; for example: an ice storm with power out for an extended period of time; you are expected to have emergency supplies on hand in case rescuers cannot get to you in that first 72 hours. See the Emergency Supplies Checklist (PDF).
- Your Emergency Preparedness Guide (PDF).
- Our Municipality has done a risk/hazard analysis and we have plans to address the hazards we are most likely to face. For example; we talk a lot about road or rail incidents and flooding in the Regional District. We have talked about interface fires and earthquakes, but we do not talk much about tsunamis. We have evacuation plans for each quadrant of the Town and have planned reception centre sites for possible evacuees.
- ESS will provide Personal Preparedness Training for residents or agencies (approximately 2 hours).
- Regionally, the Smithers Emergency Management Team is connected to the Provincial Regional Emergency Operations Centre (PREOC) located in Terrace and operated by PEP in case there is a regional disaster and we need coordination for the entire region. Provincially and Nationally we have mutual aid agreements to help us out in time of need.
- We are connected with and receive training from the Canadian Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Canadian Disaster Childcare Association, St. John Ambulance, BC Housing and more.
- Training and planning is on-going, locally and nation wide with Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada.
