With the 2023 fire season safely in the rearview mirror, provincial emergency officials are asking for the public’s help to re-tool its approach to supporting people and communities during a crisis.
The Emergency Support Services (ESS) program is due for an update, according to acting Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness George Heyman, who said this week of about 24,300 households in B.C. who were put under evacuation orders this past summer, more than 7,000 of them accessed support from ESS.
“Times like last summer are challenging, uncertain and emotional for people, communities and businesses,” said Heyman. “We learned a lot about how we can better support people in the future from experience — and conversations that are ongoing.”
While thousands evacuated en masse in 2023 due to wildfire, support from ESS can come for smaller events as well; on Salt Spring last August, for example, ESS coordinated with the Red Cross to move and temporarily shelter people displaced by an electrical fire at the Kings Lane supportive housing facility.
ESS is meant to provide quick, basic short-term support for people impacted by disasters; in an emergency that could include help with temporary lodging and food or more specialized services like emotional support and transportation.
Officials said the ministry is seeking feedback from evacuees, front-line workers, volunteers, families and businesses about how ESS could be improved; a public survey will be open until Friday, Feb. 9 at: engage.gov.bc.ca/govtogetherbc/engagement/emergency-support-services/.
Feedback collected from the survey, coupled with information gathered through extensive engagement, will support the province’s work through the premier’s expert task force on emergencies to make enhancements to ESS prior to the 2024 wildfire season, as well as long-term changes, the ministry said.
To learn about the ESS program’s Evacuee Registration and Assistance tool, visit ess.gov.bc.ca/.