If the Alert Came Tonight, Would You Know Where To Go?
During the White Rock Lake wildfire in 2021, most of the city of Vernon-tens of thousands of residents- was put in evacuation alert. Real alert, real risk. And I watched, in real time, how many residents had no idea what that actually meant- or where they were even supposed to go if it turned into an order to leave and they had no vehicle to get out of there.
Vernon has an evacuation plan for exactly this scenario. Ask yourself honestly; do you know it exists? Do you know where to find it? Have you ever actually read it?
Exactly.
And it gets harder from there. What about residents with no Alertable app, no cell phone, no computer, not even cable? Can the RCMP or other orgs knock on every single door in a wildfire evacuation? Would it surprise you to learn that some of Vernon’s downtown apartment buildings don’t have an on-site manager anymore- I know one manager who lives elsewhere entirely and covers four different buildings. So who’s checking that everyone got out? Who’s accounting for the person three floors up who can’t get down the stairs alone?
We already know how to do this. Every kid in the city does a fire drill, regularly, so they know exactly what to do and adults can account for every single one of them. Why does that discipline stop at the school doors? Why doesn’t our city- especially for our most vulnerable residents- treat this with the same seriousness?
And here’s what really gets me: when we do wait for the crisis, we still end up spending money anyway- just later, more urgently, and usually at a higher cost. Look at O’Keefe Ranch: a 2024 assessment identified nearly $2.9 million in needed repairs, and council’s response was to cut annual capital funding from $50,000 down to $10,000, then deny an $85,000 emergency request the same year- including a basic $25,000 stairway fix. The society went insolvent months later. Emergency scrambling isn’t cheaper than planning ahead. It’s just slower to show up on the bill- and by then, it’s a much bigger one.
We’ve all watched the footage from Fort McMurray, from Lytton, from towns just like ours, where people fled with minutes to spare. I don’t want Vernon to be the next one of those clips showing up on Facebook or YouTube. I don’t want us finding out what we didn’t know, in the worst possible moment, live.
Residents deserve to feel more secure- grounded in knowing that when a crisis rises, this city is actually ready to meet it. Not scrambling. Ready. I’m ready to push for that at the council table, so no one’s out-of-town’s relative is frantically calling around trying to find their parent, and no senior is left wondering how they’re supposed to get out safely on their own.
This isn’t just about fire, either. It’s water, it’s sewer, it’s every corner of this city where we wait for the crisis instead of getting ahead of it. Vernon doesn’t have a crisis problem. It has a listening problem.
So tell me: what would actually help you or your family in a real emergency?
Clear signage pointing to muster points? A simple clear guide mailed to every household, not just online or on an app? Something else entirely? I want to hear it- because the plan Vernon builds should come from what residents actually need, not what looks good in a report to council.
This October 17, Vote Dawn Tucker, Vernon’s Financial Watchdog for City Council. A voice you can count on.
View my full platform at Buzzdawn.ca
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