Centralized alerts would help eliminate wildfire confusion, northern B.C. residents say

As more emergency alerts are issued this summer in British Columbia's ongoing response to wildfires, some residents say the lack of a centralized warning system is causing confusion and leaving them on edge.

Regional districts and First Nations issue evacuation orders and alerts for residents in their jurisdiction after co-ordinating their response with the provincial government and the B.C. Wildfire Service.

But while Emergency Info B.C. ultimately collates all the alerts across the province, when it comes to real-time alerts, residents say they've faced confusing choices between the official B.C. Wildfire app, social media and third-party alert services — with the current turmoil at Twitter highlighting the unreliability of popular social media platforms.

One northern B.C. resident said they only found out about an evacuation alert several hours after it was issued.

Following a fire on the family property a few years ago, River Wilde, who lives in the Kispiox Valley north of Hazelton, B.C., said they have since been alive to the danger and tried to stay informed.

"So we had the app, the B.C. Wildfire app, and had been relying on that," Wilde said.

Wilde says they were talking with a friend about the West of Glen Vowell fire on Thursday and attempted to reassure her that there was no alert in the area.

But their sister Meghan Brady then sent a link saying there was indeed an evacuation alert from the regional district — an alert that took 17 hours to show up in the wildfire service app, according to Wilde.

Brady said it's "alarming" that residents have to pay attention to multiple sources of information during emergencies, especially in remote areas that can have spotty internet connectivity.

"I wouldn't even have followed the regional district stuff at all. Like, I didn't even know that I should be looking there because I used the wildfire app on my mobile device," Brady said.

More than 70 evacuation alerts and orders were in place across B.C. on Monday. 

An evacuation alert means residents should prepare to evacuate their homes with little to no notice. An evacuation order means residents should leave immediately.

In the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako (RDBN), which has seen the most fire activity over the past two weeks, strained resources mean officials can't go door-to-door to notify residents of alerts.

"What we don't want to do is take away [resources] if there's an order that comes up and we need to act quickly on an order," said Mark Parker, the RDBN chair, who encouraged residents to pay attention to the district's website.

Residents say co-ordination essential

In Fort St. James, northwest of Prince George, those who have been through alerts and orders in previous wildfire seasons say a co-ordinated message is essential.

"There's definitely lessons learned from the 2018 [fire season]," said Renada Walstrom, health manager at the Nak'azdli Whut'en health centre.

Walstrom says communication breakdowns are now rare in the region, adding that authorities were now "responding, not reacting" to new information through daily emergency meetings, which involves multiple stakeholders.

She says she thinks that emergency officials now know how best to put the message out for residents, which includes updates through resource road radio channels that can be accessed by members of the public.

In a statement, the B.C. Wildfire Service says there is a "known issue" with the app that occasionally stops emergency alerts from displaying on its map.

"Unfortunately, the way the app currently pulls information from external sources to show the perimeters of evacuations on the map means they're not displaying as functional links," a spokesperson wrote. 

"In the meantime, there should be evacuation information available on the 'Details' tab of any incident with an evacuation order or alert in place."

In a statement, the Ministry of Emergency Management said that familiarizing oneself with the local district's emergency protocols should be part of emergency kit planning.

"EmergencyInfoBC is operational 24/7 every day of the year," a spokesperson said. "The province may also issue a broadcast intrusive alert to cell phones, radio and televisions on behalf of a local authority or First Nation at its request."

Some regional districts also use third-party alert apps like Voyent and Alertable during emergencies, according to the spokesperson.

Want to learn more about how to find wildfire information? Here's a guide from CBC News.