Residents try to gain access to Juniper Ridge egress, July 1, 2021 (Image Credit: Amy O'Riordan)

By James Peters

Juniper-Valleyview Wildfire

‘It’s got to change right away’: MLAs press City of Kamloops for Juniper Ridge emergency plan

Jul 5, 2021 | 11:36 AM

KAMLOOPS — The two Kamloops MLAs are calling on the City of Kamloops to take immediate action after a problematic evacuation of Juniper Ridge last week.

As a lightning-sparked wildfire threatened the neighbourhood Thursday night (July 1), much of the community tried to flee to safety. Tactical evacuations were enacted for certain sections of both Juniper Ridge and Valleyview.

Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone, who lives with his family in Juniper Ridge, was one of hundreds of people who grew increasingly frustrated while sitting in a motionless traffic jam.

“Many folks ended up taking well over an hour, in some cases up to two hours to evacuate,” Stone told CFJC Today. “That is completely and totally unacceptable and, frankly, had it not been for a short but significant downpour of rain at exactly the right moment, what was already a terrifying situation could have been so much worse.”

The experience spurred both Stone and Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar, who lives in Valleyview, to write a letter to the City of Kamloops, pressing for short- and medium-term measures.

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“Anyone who would look at this objectively and what happened on the evening of July 1 would have to agree that there were significant challenges with respect to the emergency evacuation itself, as well as official communication related to it,” said Stone. “That has got to change moving forward and it’s got to change right away.”

Short-term actions recommended by the MLAs include the development of a detailed emergency evacuation plan for Juniper Ridge, which includes that:

• gates at emergency egress locations on either end of Juniper Ridge must be unlocked for the duration of fire season
• steps must be taken to facilitate more than one lane of traffic down Highland Drive
• the city embrace all tools possible to enhance communication with residents
  Locked Juniper Ridge egress (Image Credit: Contributed)

“How in God’s name could it take an hour-plus for most people to be evacuated when, clearly, it was a very dangerous and worsening situation with the fire coming literally up to the back fences of properties in the Nechako-Capilano neighbourhood?” asked Stone.

He agrees with calls for a second paved road leading away from Juniper Ridge, but says more can be done to ensure residents have timely access to the unpaved emergency vehicle pathways that already exist on the east and west ends of the borough.

“The residents up in Juniper have been advised for years by the city that those two egress locations, in the event of a forest fire or an emergency evacuation procedure, that those gates would be unlocked, that they would be open, that there would be no machinery in the way. That was not the case on July 1.”

“Why was only one lane of traffic going down Highland?” Stone continued. “This is a three-lane road – it has two lanes coming up and one going down. Part of the reason the City made that investment a number of years ago in that much wider road was to facilitate an evacuation by allowing at least two lanes of traffic to be heading down the hill. For whatever reason, there was only one lane of traffic going down that hill.”

Stone and Milobar have copied their letter to Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth but said the City of Kamloops has a lot of work to do.

“As an MLA and as a resident of Juniper Ridge, I certainly feel compelled to do what I can to urge the City of Kamloops to take immediate action to make sure that what happened with the evacuation on the evening of July 1 in Juniper Ridge never happens again.”

READ THE LETTER: