BONNYVILLE – The MD of Bonnyville Emergency Management Department has identified rural areas of concern in regard to evacuation planning.
Luis Gandolfi, Director of Protective Services, presented the Sub-Division Egress Report to Council during the Sept. 24 MD council meeting. The report assessed resident's current evacuation options, and suggested potential improvements to the MD’s rural subdivisions’ evacuation procedures.
Council has directed administration to bring the report back to the Oct. 15 committee of the Whole Meeting for further discussion.
“The Emergency Management Department began a review of all subdivisions or area clusters where ratepayers reside within the MD. The purpose of this review is to assess the egress potential for the area in question and provide information on what mitigation strategies could be used to lessen the threat to our residents and to their property,” said Gandolfi.
The report identified four locations of concern - Crane Lake West, Moose Lake North, Muriel Lake, and the Moose Lake Peninsula.
The report followed several criteria to identify concerning areas, including population density, proximity to a risk source, and the egress potential currently in place for the location.
“Although this report was prepared with an all-hazards focus in mind, it could be assumed that the most likely scenario requiring a full-scale evacuation could be an approaching wildfire,” said Gandolfi.
Mitigation strategies highlighted in the report included structural mitigation such as road construction, road improvements, brush clearing, or signage, as well as non-structural mitigation including the sharing of information with ratepayers, training, planning and development strategies, or procedural and educational measures.
“In terms of cost, this report was prepared with a very high-level cost evaluation in mind. many of the strategies presented would involve significant financial investment, and without the benefit of technical testing . . . our infrastructure services department has provided only basic cost estimates,” said Gandolfi.
Coun. Ben Fadeyiw inquired about why Marie Lake was not included in the report, as the area has one way in and out, coupled with dense foliage. Gandolfi assured Fadeyiw that it had been taken into consideration, but the MD has already done what it can in terms of land and bush clearing within the MD’s jurisdiction around Marie Lake.
Gandolfi said the next step with the area around Marie Lake is speaking to residents about managing their properties and aligning them with FireSmart principles.
“It's always such a challenge because it is a beautiful little area. It's got lots of privacy and people tend to tend to like those features in a property, but I agree that it is problematic,” said Gandolfi.
He assured council that the MD of Bonnyville had been thoroughly reviewed, and other areas of concern were also identified, but because they were less pressing, they would be presented and discussed in a different report.
Reeve Barry Kalinski suggested the report be made public, and Coun. Dana Swigart agreed, commenting on how he appreciated seeing the report.
“I've got calls from folks at Crane Lake West. They're concerned because it is a really narrow little road. It's well documented in the report. I would agree that this should be a report that goes out there on our website so the residents can actually see what we're working toward and that we are concerned about some of these areas,” said Swigart.
Swigart voiced his concern that the report would be shelved if council only motioned to accept it as information. Deputy Reeve Josh Crick suggested the report be brought back to the Committee of the Whole Meeting.
Swigart made a motion that council direct administration to bring the subdivision egress report back to the Oct. 15 committee of the whole meeting, where it can be further discussed.