Local News

An evacuation exercise performed today will have residents in Kal lake interface areas sleeping a little easier in the assurance that rescue groups have them covered.

In a similar exercise to the one performed just weeks ago on Okanagan lake, today’s mock rescue attracted almost double the amount of participants, amassing an estimated 60 people from various agencies in the surrounding area. In attendance were Coldstream, Okanagan Landing and Lake Country Fire Department volunteers, Conservation and Forestry officials as well as the Amateur Radio Club.  RCMP members as well as Vernon Search and Rescue hosted the four-hour event.

Meant to prepare both residents and rescuers alike in the incidence of an inescapable fire along the interface areas of Kalamalka lake, agencies were quick to point out that parallels between the two lake-oriented exercises ended there, as varied terrain presented by Kalamalka Lake added to the scope of the event.

“It’s all about safety,” says SAR member Coralie Nairn. “Here on Kalamalka lake, we don’t have the same capabilities for these larger vessels.  Our disembarking area is different and we don’t have as many docks or wharfs to access in order to get people out.  In the event of a real-life scenario, residents will be on the rock faces trying to get to a stable area in order to get on to a vessel. Kal lake is a lot smaller than Okanagan Lake as well, the area is much more constrained in regards to access for aircraft getting buckets of water.  Keeping curious boating traffic out of those areas will be a lot more difficult.”

The Search and rescue group also took time introducing their practice to local residents, handing out information of the area fire plan door to door as part of the exercise.

“Depending on wind conditions and how fast a fire will travel you never know what scenarios you’ll run into,” added Nairn. “Some residents have pets, some think they’ve got time to pack up their houses.  We’re here to tell them, let’s go, when the situation presents itself.”

North Okanagan RCMP members said their mandate is to take the lead as officers are responsible for evacuating residents.

“We almost always call in Search and Rescue to help us.  They’ve got the skill sets and the resources to do it but we ultimately oversee the activity,” says RCMP member Dave Evans.

“On Okanagan Lake we had the luxury of large Yacht Club boats to help load and unload in close proximity to the evacuation areas whereas today, we need to transport to another safe part of land, and then off load, but that’s the reality of this lake, and that’s what we’re going to be faced with.”

The day’s events, said Evans, proved successful. “Last exercise we had some issues over communication with the differing agencies but I think we overcame those for this exercise,” he said.

Jessica Bockus of Vernon’s Search and Rescue said the convenience and opportunity of working together today proved invaluable.

“Mock evacuations are good practice because of much needed inter-agency relationship building,” she said.

“These are great scenarios to be involved in because we build trust through working together and getting to know each other.”