Monday August 21, 2023 | VANCOUVER, BC [12 noon session | last update of this page: 1:30 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
ALSO SEE: SMOKY SKIES ADVISORIES | AUGUST 19 WILDFIRE UPDATE
READER COMMENTS WELCOME (on any news issue): letters@islandsocialtrends.com
Today’s update about the BC wildfire emergency started out with a stern advisory from Premier David Eby to anyone who are tampering with or moving firefighting equipment. “People think they’re helping. They are not,” said Eby in the August 21 noon-hour media session.
Order & alert:
As of today, there are 27,000 people on evacuation order and over 35,000 on evacuation alert, says Bowinn Ma, Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Climate Readiness.
She added that people are asked not to travel to the Okanagan or Shuswap for tourism at this time during the wildfires in the Okanagan area including Kelowna and West Kelowna.
Ma said that food banks, community organizations and non-profit organizations have been “inspiring” with the level of help they’ve been providing.
The BC-SPCA is providing emergency boarding for pets, as well as supplies and food.
Role of media and social media:
“I do want to thank the media,” said Ma, regarding covering the BC wildfire situation. The government uses social media, websites and alerts.
“It’s important to meet people where they’re at, she said, referring to social media. “But it’s not the only tool.”
Local newspapers and radio stations continue to do their job in reporting the wildfires, noted Premier Eby. “We are reliant on local media to translate that into local relevance” for their audience area, which then gets picked up in social media.
Eby about Facebook:
Today Eby articulated what local news outlets have been saying for years, that social media giants “have built their networks on the backs of local media”.
Regarding the Facebook ban on news outlet posts (Facebook is protesting the C-18 federal law that requires tech giants to pay publishers for news content): “It’s so unacceptable to keep that ban in place.”
The Premier said today that BC is still paying Facebook to carry emergency-related advertising because the province is taking the responsible approach to public safety.
Difficult days:
These have been “the most difficult days of fighting wildfires in BC’s history”, said Forests Minister Bruce Ralston.
“It has been a long stressful firefighting season for too many,” he added.
The province is “grateful for your unwavering commitment to keeping people safe”, said Ralston today, noting however, that the current wildfire season is “far from over”.
Other wildfire announcements Aug 18 & 19
On Friday August 18 at 6:15 pm Premier David Eby declared a province-wide State of Emergency, to free up any resources that are not already being accessed or provided. [See August 18, 2023 BC Government Wildfire State of Emergency News Release]
In light of the ongoing Okanagan area wildfires, on Saturday August 19 the BC wildfire update started around 1:12 pm, livestreamed and available to media. The session was led by Premier David Eby, along with Minister Bowinn Ma (Emergency Management and Climate Readiness) and Minister Bruce Ralston (Forests). There was a reminder to not fly drones in wildfires areas, and that boaters should not be on the water where firefighting aircraft are trying to reload with water from lakes.
===== RELATED:
Smoky Sunday skies in the west shore (August 20, 2023)
Smoky skies & health reminders (August 19, 2023)
Additional state of emergency to assure accommodations during wildfire evacuations (August 19, 2023)
State of Emergency called due to wildfire (August 18, 2023)
BC preparing for extreme fire conditions & accepting NWT evacuees (August 17, 2023)
