Halifax must prioritize fighting wildfire risks: Councilman

HALIFAX, NS — Updated evacuation plans, which provide multiple neighborhood exits and improve crisis communications should be higher on the priority list, the Hammonds Plains alderman argued at Halifax’s regional council meeting on Tuesday night.

“We’ve been through a lot and I feel like we haven’t really focused on what we need to do as a municipality to make sure that communities have the resources to hand, that our budget recognizes the importance and the high importance of the community safety,” said Coun. Pam Lovelace (Hammonds Plains-St. Margarets).

Lovelace requested that the council receive a staff report outlining and prioritizing projects to mitigate and control wildfire risk, and that staff keep the council informed of “progress to improve crisis communications capacity,” an objective that is listed in the Strategic Priority Plan 2021-2025.

In a statement on her motionLovelace said the Halifax Regional Municipality has known about significant outflow (the lack of more than one exit from a neighborhood) and the need for community evacuation for decades. Community members have also been asking for piped water for fire fighting for some time now.

She said there was a lack of focus on crisis communication over time during the wildfire response, and HRM was not prepared for this in terms of practice and training.

“If you look at the scale of this crisis, with 16,400 people being evacuated in a seven-kilometer area… it’s just huge,” Lovelace said.

Comfort center inventory

More work needs to be done around the planning of comfort centers during emergencies, Coun argued. Patty Cuttell (Spryfield-Sambro Loop-Prospect Road).

Cuttell asked staff to report on an inventory of properties to be used as comfort centers and evaluate their readiness.

She said there were talks about this after post-tropical storm Fiona caused massive power outages last fall.

“I certainly have no idea in my own district what community centers have the capabilities to act as comfort centers in a crisis or how they are staffed and supported by volunteers,” she said.

Voluntary registration of vulnerable persons

Also on Tuesday, the council voted to approve the development of a voluntary register of vulnerable persons for use during extreme weather events and other crises. This had been in the works for some time, before the recent bushfires, but councilors said the need for this register increased during the evacuation.

The cost for the four-year project is estimated at $280,531.

The registry will be useful for first responders during emergencies to know where there are people who need more immediate help.

“The recent power outages during Hurricane Fiona have highlighted the need to know where vulnerable individuals live who may rely on power for medically supported devices.” city ​​officials wrote in a report.