Communities within the Bulkley Valley will receive funding by the province to improve their emergency operations centres.
According to BC, this will better equip them to respond to emergencies affecting people in their communities.
Additionally, communities will be able to build or upgrade EOC’s, purchase equipment and enhance capacity through volunteer recruitment, retention and training.
Communities from the region include Smithers, Granisle and the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako.
“This enables us to work in partnership with our neighbour, the Village of Telkwa to ensure we are better prepared together in the event of an emergency,” Smithers Mayor Gladys Atrill said.
“Our EOC is a priority and this important grant funding has supported staff training and the acquisition of critical equipment to support weather monitoring and communications, including backup systems and laptop computers,” she said.
Communities that received funding are:
- Regional District of Bulkley- Nechako- EOC equipment and exercise program development -$24,855
- Fraser Lake- equipment upgrades- $14,885.80
- Gitanyow Band- EOC communications- $10,581
- Granisle- improved EOC capacity through situational response training- $25,000
- Smithers,Telkwa,regional- resiliency and mobile operations- $50,000
A total of 84 First Nations and local governments will receive the funding which was provided through Community Emergency Preparedness funding.