Prince George, B.C. – The Regional District of Fraser Fort George has taken a very close look at how it handled the emergency  created by the Little Bob Tail Lake fire  in May of  this year. The fire  threatened  homes and cottages  in the Bednesti  and Normal Lake areas,   forcing the need for evacuation alerts and orders. In a report  presented to the Board of Directors , Regional District staff  presented  several recommendations on how  the  Regional  District can improve its  emergency response actions. The recommendations are laid out in  three themes,  Technical, Procedural and Preparedness.

Technical:

• improvements to information technology
• EOC facilities
• communication methods

Procedural:

• Develop an emergency event review process as policy
• Execution of alert and order notifications
• integrated and consistent public information

Preparedness:

• Emergency Management exercises for the Directors on the Board\ Presentations on upcoming risks (flood, ice jams, fires etc)
• Livestock own/association preparedness
• Fostering positive working relationships with community groups and associations
• On going revision of the Regional District’s Emergency Response and Recovery Plan which was originally developed in 2006.

The staff report also  indicates  the Regional District  spent about $55 thousand dollars dealing with the  Little Bob Tail Lake fire  emergency.  Those costs are fully  covered by the Provincial Government.