Twenty newly trained volunteers are ready to assist emergency crews in case of a large scale emergency in Sun Peaks.
The new volunteers more than triple the amount of help available for the local Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), which is invoked when an incident response team needs off-site support.
Training took place on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. It was the first time an Emergency Operation Centre Essentials Course, conducted by the Justice Institute of B.C., was hosted in Sun Peaks. The $5,000 course was funded by Emergency Management B.C.
“We will probably have 28 people that have taken the course over the past couple of years and have agreed to volunteer for their community if something really bad goes down and we need their help,” said Colin Cannon, chief of Sun Peaks Fire Rescue.
“It’s absolutely huge. It’s essential. There’s a span of control that any member of emergency (personnel) has and once you get past seven (people) you really need outside help, which is the Emergency Operations Centre.”
The volunteers received 14 hours of training on how to run an EOC in case of a major emergency, including running through simulations of disasters.
The centre is called into place when the emergency crews on the site of the incident are overwhelmed and need more support than is available on the ground. The EOC volunteers will be called to help in a major emergency such as a forest fire, propane accident or flooding. A large part of their responsibility to liaison with other actors, such as BC Wildfire or BC Hydro.
“It’s fantastic that the members of the community are stepping up,” Cannon said.
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