Sun Peaks adopts new emergency management bylaw

At the Sept. 8 meeting, Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality council adopted the Emergency Management Program and Organizational Bylaw, setting out a framework for how the municipality will prepare for and respond to a range of potential emergencies. 

The bylaw came about as part of a gap analysis into a much larger project of a new emergency plan the municipality is undergoing, and formalizes the emergency management organization, Sun Peaks Fire and Rescue’s fire chief Dean Schiavon explained.

While there will be no discernible change for residents, the bylaw will help provide a stronger legal standing when it comes to emergencies and council’s directions, he added.

One vital aspect of the emergency management plan project underway is a new hazard risk and vulnerability assessment, which identifies new risks that have emerged, prioritizes them and creates plans around them, Schiavon said.  

The emergency management plan will also help strengthen collaboration and coordination between the municipality and other agencies, such as the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, neighbouring First Nations, Sun Peaks Resort LLP and other organizations that may be involved in emergency planning.

“The [emergency management plan] project as a whole, is going to identify areas for municipal staff training,”  Schiavon said.

The Emergency Management Plan and Organization Bylaw includes a succession structure, which outlines the chain of command in the event of an emergency. 

“That’ll help ensure that each position has multiple people that can fill roles, even if the staff are unavailable,” Schiavon explained. 

Assessing safety hazards and risks that can complicate emergency response and evacuation planning, such as having a single paved access road, one power-line feed and visitors who may not be registered with the local alerting system, will require additional work. 

“This is a much larger project which will take quite a bit more time to complete,” Schiavon said. 

Residents will be able to review the Emergency Management Plan on the municipality’s website, similar to the Evacuation Plan.