The BC Wildfire Service is looking back at the last 13 years to see what went well, what needs work and what the future has in store.
In the months that followed the Okanagan Mountain wildfire of 2003, the B.C. government had an outside study done to see what it could have done better.
According to B.C.'s chief fire information officer Kevin Skrepnek, one of the biggest identified issues following 2003 was the lack of public information.
Following that report, Skrepnek says the agency worked diligently to change and improve its communication mandate.
“Where you can get caught, in general, is waiting too long to have the perfect set of information. You've got to work with what you've got, ensure you are protecting your organization, but also ensure the public gets the information,” said Skrepnek.
“There is a vacuum there and if we don't fill it someone else will, and chances are it will be inaccurate information.”
The next large fire year, 2009, saw another post-mortem analysis done and this time, public communication was identified as one of the successes.
Skrepnek explained at the Wildland Fire Conference in Kelowna this week that the BC Wildfire Service is the only arm of the provincial government with a public communications mandate, and he believes it is working well.
The latest busy fire season, 2015, saw the BC Wildfire Service complete an estimated 3,000 interviews with the media.
“That is a highly conservative number,” said Skrepnek. “It is probably close to 5,000. If we talk to a journalist nine times a day about one incident, which is common, we count that as just one interview.”
While he said they do try their best to communicate information quickly and effectively, they are more hesitant than other lead agencies may be.
“We tend to be more risk adverse and open to litigation, something that is becoming more and more real,” said Skrepnek. “Sometimes we are more guarded about the information we are sending out.”
With a goal of continuing a timely and open dialogue, Skrepnek says the organization is now looking ahead.
They forecast four major challenges in coming years; an increase in major fires, an increase in expectation for information, an increase in incident complexity and ensuring all agencies adapt.
“People are expecting information immediately and we need to have something to offer,” said Skrepnek.
A key tool, he said, is working together. A unified command with all levels of government and different agencies is the key to success in disaster time.
“An emergency is not a time to make new friends,” said Skrepnek. “An emergency should feel like 'getting the band back together'.”
Skrepnek said they are also continually working on their social media strategy to get information out quickly.
He noted that some of their successful messaging on Facebook has allowed them to reach 1.2 million people in a province where 2.8 million use Facebook.
But, he warned, social media is not a silver bullet and should be used carefully in alignment with other established communication strategies.