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How we work with local governments

Last updated on June 14, 2024

Local governments issue evacuation alerts and orders for their communities, and manage wildfires within their municipal boundaries.

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Before a wildfire

Local governments should proactively prepare for wildfires throughout the year. Following these steps helps communities succeed in being prepared and resilient.

Build your knowledge

Enroll in and complete the Justice Institute of BC's Emergency Operations Centre Essentials courses. They'll help you understand Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) operations during wildfire emergencies. 

Stay updated on wildfire trends and risks through BCWS information sources. These are typically dispersed by BCWS information officers at the incident, in the Regional Wildfire Coordination Centre (RWCC) that’s part of a fire centre, or the Provincial Wildfire Coordination Centre (PWCC) based in Kamloops. We share information through:

Plan and prepare

Plans

Identify which areas are at most risk from a wildfire. If possible, undertake a Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan (CWRP) to identify and address at-risk neighbourhoods. You may ask your BCWS local fire zone for help with this.

From there, make a detailed emergency response plan. It should have a hazard assessment that's relevant to your area. You must keep this updated as you learn more. Your emergency plan should also:

  • Be based on the results of conversations with Indigenous governing bodies and neighbouring local authorities
  • Include assigned roles and responsibilities for emergency planning and operations
  • List alternative processes for non-working days and staff absences 
  • Include fatigue management plans. Establish processes for approvals, authorities and records management to identify how emergency and core business operations will continue over a long period of time

Your internal teams

Your teams are the most valuable resource you have. It's important to understand and leverage their social, economic and political strengths. These can reveal hidden talents like problem-solving, mapping skills, collaboration and local knowledge. 

Once you understand these strengths, share them with the team to enhance collective abilities. Keeping everyone's understanding up-to-date on all types of processes and areas of expertise ensures that a pool of knowledge is always available. 

Build networks and collaborate

Proactively connecting with community leaders who can help during emergencies, especially in high-risk wildfire areas, helps to establish a foundation for robust support. Similarly, uniting with social networks, such as government, service organizations and strata councils, can also support wildfire response efforts. 

When building your networks, it's important to communicate the mutual benefits of collaboration. Sort them into social, knowledge-based, capacity, natural system, infrastructure and financial advantages. This collaboration helps to reveal collective strengths. It also allows for a deeper understanding of mutual limitations, resources and readiness to ensure that efforts are well-coordinated and effective.

Conduct simulation exercises

Regular simulation exercises help staff and leaders build confidence in their roles and responsibilities during an emergency. This confidence can lead to more decisive action when every second counts. Examples of mock exercises include:

  • Initiating response protocols during a wildfire incident
  • Implementing backup communication strategies when standard networks fail
  • Running exercises on allocating and managing critical resources like water supply, firefighting equipment and emergency shelters
  • Simulating search and rescue missions to find people who are trapped or unable to evacuate

Engage your community

When the community is informed and engaged, they're better prepared for emergencies.

Tailored messages help people understand the specific risks and actions they'd need to take in the event of a wildfire. Having this knowledge can reduce panic and confusion during actual emergencies.

Connect and collaborate with a BCWS information officer to create messages tailored to your community's values and distribute them through multiple channels.

It's important to consider how to communicate your messaging to everyone, including those without internet or smartphone connectivity. For example:

  • Local media, like newspapers and radio stations
  • Door-to-door campaigns
  • Town hall meetings
  • Community loudspeakers

Apply for wildfire prevention funding

We recommend that local governments apply for funding to enhance wildfire prevention and preparedness. By tapping into funding resources, communities can invest in sustainable practices and build a more resilient future against the threat of wildfires. 

Consider an emergency alert tool

Emergency alerts are messages that reach the public through cellphones, email and telephone landlines. These messages are sent to provide urgent public safety information during life-threatening emergencies. 

They provide another way to reach the public, but do not replace other types of emergency alert methods like sirens, door-to-door notifications and news media. 

Local governments may choose from a variety of tools. For example, Alertable and Voyent Alert. In the event of an emergency, local governments may also work with EMCR to issue a BC Emergency Alert. 

During a wildfire 

Timely and coordinated responses are essential for keeping people safe.

Immediate actions

The Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (EMCR) will organize a call. It will include you, EMCR personnel and BCWS personnel. This call is used to provide evacuation alert and order recommendations to the jurisdiction of authority

While BCWS will provide recommendations on evacuation alerts, orders and rescinds, it’s your responsibility as a local government to issue, communicate and implement these legal orders. 

BCWS may recommend resource road closures to the Ministry of Forests, closures of transportation corridors to transportation authorities and airspace restrictions to aviation authorities. These authorities are responsible for final decisions and enforcing these restrictions. 

If you plan to move forward with an evacuation order, activate your EOC. If you're planning to arrange community meetings, ensure they're in a safe area to brief people, address concerns and provide clear, actionable guidance. 

Local governments are responsible for deploying personnel, equipment and strategies to control and extinguish fires within their fire protection boundaries. BCWS will coordinate with local governments to manage a fire’s suppression when a wildfire originating on Crown land crosses into municipal areas.

Ongoing responsibilities

You must maintain reception centres and evacuee support services to keep your community safe. You are also responsible for managing access to evacuated areas.

It's recommended your community conducts rapid damage assessments. This helps gain situational awareness and inform the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA). This PDNA will eventually inform your Community Recovery Plan. This is important because it allows the local government to: 

  • Identify potential funding opportunities for recovery actions
  • Provide organized, strategic direction for the community in the case of turnover during a time of increased workload
  • Signal to the public and partners that the community is approaching recovery with intention and strategic planning. This creates trust and opportunities for collaboration
  • Track recovery progress, compare new projects against values and needs and improve the trajectory of long-term recovery
  • Share official information sources to keep your community informed and up-to-date

After a wildfire

Support your community’s return to normalcy in the aftermath of a wildfire.

Inform your community on identified risks

You are responsible for updating your community about the findings in your post-wildfire natural hazards risk assessment. 

Coordinate re-entry for evacuees

Local governments are responsible for prioritizing the coordination and safety of evacuee re-entry. This means you must: 

  • Conduct thorough inspections to make sure that basic utilities like water, electricity and gas are functional and safe
  • Ensure that critical infrastructure is intact or restored to prevent any harm to returning residents
  • Use various communication channels to provide clear guidelines and schedules for re-entry

Share recovery resources

Local governments should share recovery resources to facilitate efficient post-disaster recovery through multiple channels. By distributing information on available resources such as financial assistance, counselling services and reconstruction support, you ensure that every community member is informed and empowered to get the help they need. 

Establishing local recovery centres is also important. These centres serve as vital hubs for people to access information and apply for aid. This approach speeds up the recovery process. It also builds a foundation of trust and reliability between you and the communities you serve.