About 20 people took part in Tuesday’s Red Cross Disaster Management Info Session held in Williams Lake at the Pioneer Complex.
Attending to learn how to make a plan should you have to evacuate and signing up to volunteer to help their community in a disaster was Liz Klingbell from Kelowna who now works at the Sandman Hotel.
“Kelowna has seen it’s fair share of evacuations in the past 20 years,” she said.
“So after working with the staff here in Williams Lake, I realized that they’re still struggling after last year’s fires so I want to do everything that I can.”
Klingbell adds that following the info session she now knows there is a couple of things she needs to adds to her ‘to go’ kit when she needs to leave in an emergency.
Red Cross emergency management coordinator for Northern BC and Yukon, Jesse Bowen said there were lots of good questions asked at the Session and quite a few people interested in becoming a part of the Red Cross family.
“We talked a little bit about what did you do last year and how would you do it different this year, and covered somethings to put in your pack that you might not think about like photocopies to your id, extra keys to your house, a little bit of cash, medications,” said Bowen noting how critical it can be having such a kit.
“Even in a regular house-fire, sometimes you only have minutes to get out and in that chaos you’re not thinking clearly because your’re in survival mode. If you have a pack already packed and ready and you have a plan that you’ve already put into your head you can grab it on your way out and you don’t have to be thinking about am I missing anything.”
Bowen also recommends having such a kit in your vehicle.
“When you’re traveling back roads, if you do a lot of travel like I do through some remote areas, being prepared for a flat tire, for it clonking out for some reason, going off the road and maybe not being visible right away, there’s lots of reasons why you would want to have a survival pack.”
Red Cross Information Sessions were also held in 100 Mile House and on Wednesday in Quesnel.
Further information about Red Cross and how to volunteer can be found at redcross.ca