Next steps in New West’s extreme weather plans

For many months, New West has been plugging away at a robust plan to ensure people are able to stay safe during extreme weather. Since our last story, there have been some slight updates as the work goes on – so we followed up with Cory Hansen, the acting manager of the city’s emergency response program, to answer some of our questions after she gave a brief presentation at city council on Monday night.

Volunteer opportunities

This was one of the most popular questions: locals do want to be a part of the efforts to mobilize in an emergency, and Hansen said this is a priority on their list. “It’s definitely something we’ve heard, and we’ve heard it from everybody. Now we have to look at, ‘what is the best way to form this?’ ‘How is it managed, and where do we go from here?’ ” Hansen says, adding that this might not be something that is completed by this summer.

Additionally, they want to make sure there is a volunteer option for other weather events, including atmospheric rivers or even when things get a little too cold and/or snowy.

If you’re making these plans now, what happens if it gets too hot this summer?

Hansen says there are strategies that have been put in place for this summer, and that there was an opportunity to test them last month when we had a brief run of heat warnings. Hansen notes the current plan would be to follow the outline New West has created using the BC Heat Alert and Response System (BC HARS) as a guide.

“The 27th of June was that great little exercise where the city needed to say, ‘oh, here’s a little bit of heat coming, and there is a heat warning in effect,’ ” explains Hansen. The city was able to operate its cooling venues, and run through a few days of monitoring calls for fire and ambulance. While the BC HARS model suggests mobilizing at 29 degrees, Hansen says the city is still working – depending on the situation – with activating at around 27 degrees. “We say we’re going to activate at 27, because chances are it’s going to get that hot within our city.”

Majority of building managers okay with door knocking in the event of an emergency

New West has also been reaching out to building managers and stratas to obtain permission to knock on doors in the event of an extreme heat emergency. When Hansen last spoke with New West Anchor, about 95% of building managers and stratas had said yes.

“We’ve had acceptance basically from everybody, but now it’s waiting for those forms to come back, and [for] everybody to have a contact in those identified buildings. Everyone’s pretty much on board. We did find a couple of questions [from those we contacted], but the majority of them are taking the information to their strata.”

This also appears to have spurred more action within the buildings, with Hansen adding that buildings are having more fulsome conversations among themselves. “We also sent [educational posters] to them as well. They’re saying, ‘okay, how can we better our buildings?’ ”

In the meantime, Hansen says she’s pleased to see some of the discussion taking place in the community. “We need to be more prepared as a community to help each other out. We’re very small and I think it’s something that, if you’re looking after yourself, you can also reach out and look after your neighbour, too.”