Well, the big safety meeting was held Wednesday night as the UniverCity Community Association brought residents, politicians and city officials together.
One of the main topics was an evacuation plan for the 20,000 to 30,000 people who live and work on Burnaby Mountain at any given time.
The big fear for people like me is what happens if there is a disaster, such as a forest fire (we’re surrounded by 4,000 acres of dry wood), earthquake or explosion at the Trans Mountain tank farm that sits at the base of the mountain.
Some people have commented about my earlier blogs on this topic that I should just stop whining because I chose to live on the mountain. Yeah, that’s true, but the City of Burnaby also chose to allow the potential for up to 10,000 residents to move up there – those residents likely figured allowing that many people meant the city had solid plans in place to deal with disasters. That doesn’t seem to be the case.
Other comments I’ve received have said that if there is a major problem on the mountain, people can just use the many trails to walk down in case the only road out of there is, for example, destroyed by an earthquake.
First, that is a ridiculous suggestion for any able-bodied person. Imagine humping down steep trails if the trees are on fire. Two, that suggestion is even more ridiculous for people with mobility issues.
So stop with all of your “helpful” comments about the situation for UniverCity residents.
The meeting was an effective event because so many local politicians were on hand to hear the concerns of residents. This included Mayor Mike Hurley, MP Terry Beech, and MLAs Katrina Chen and Janet Routledge. I didn’t see any other members of council and that was truly disappointing.
Hurley did a good job, assuring residents that there was a new political sheriff in town who was taking all of this seriously. This includes the city embarking on an ambitious public safety plan for all of Burnaby, including the “unique” concerns of those who live on the mountain.
This includes taking a new look at if there should be a new fire hall built on Burnaby Mountain.
The city is also putting together an evacuation plan for residents. On that point, Hurley said it will be tricky because the city has no idea what kind of plan Trans Mountain has if, as expected, the pipeline expansion project finally goes ahead. According to Hurley, Trans Mountain doesn’t actually have to come up with an evacuation plan until six months before the project starts.
So Burnaby has no idea how the city’s plan will “dovetail” with Trans Mountain’s plan, Hurley said.
The meeting also featured Burnaby fire department deputy chief Chris Bowcock speaking several times about the measures the department is taking to prepare for a possible disaster.
Bowcock impressed me and I actually felt much better coming out of the meeting. There are still so many unknowns about what kind of plans will be put into place in the coming months and years, but this meeting was a good start.
Meanwhile, I’ll continue training on those mountain trails in case I have to escape.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
