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Village of Keremeos looks to province for emergency funding

The funding is part of a program offered by the Union Of B.C. Municipalities
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The Keremeos Volunteer Fire Department worked alongside the BC Wildfire crews doing water suppression, putting out spot fires, and patrolling in 2018. (Contributed Image)

By Brennan Phillips

Keremeos Review Staff

The Village of Keremeos will join with the RDOS and other communities in the region to apply for funds in the event of an emergency.

Council approved a proposal to apply for the funding with the RDOS during a council meeting on Feb. 3.

READ MORE: Strategic Plan, electric cars, park, topics of Village’s first 2020 council

The funding is part of a program offered by the Union Of B.C. Municipalities to improve communities’ emergency repsonse plans and includes a maximum of $25,000.

If the grant application is successful, the money would be used to expand and improve the Keremeos Emergency Support Services (ESS) program, which is activated when there are evacuations to co-ordinate and keep track of residents in the affected areas.

“If people were displaced from their homes, we’d like them to check-in, even if they are going to stay with a relative somewhere,” said Marg Coulson, chief administrative officer for the village. “We’d like them to check-in so that they’re accounted for, other people will be looking for a chit to stay at a hotel, or get some meals.”

Some of the specific uses for the funding in Keremeos would go towards training programs as well as a mock reception centre exercises, which would include setting up the centre as well as going through the procedures for registering and keeping track of evacuees.

Funds would also go to updating technology used by the Keremeos ESS teams, improve signs and clothing, volunteer recruitment and retention efforts.

One of the main goals of the modernization efforts is to make reporting and registration for emergencies electronic. So far, ESS has used paper to keep track of people, such as during the 2018 wildfire evacuations.

“It wasn’t particularly problematic for the size of the activations we’ve had,” said Coulson. “But if it were a bigger activation and we needed to keep track of more people, it would become unwieldy in short order.”

READ MORE: Keremeos looks forward to 2020

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