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B.C.
2023-08-24 11:03 PDT
Yesterday, RCMP officers from the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island mustered at the Pacific Regional Training Centre (PRTC) in Chilliwack to deploy to wildfires.
As 60 personnel returned to their home districts today, another 76 RCMP members traveled to Kelowna and surrounding areas on August 23, providing relief to those officers already in working in the field. These officers travelled from the RCMP’s north, island and Lower Mainland districts. This is in addition to the over 100 officers deployed during the immediate response to the fires.
The logistics, coordinated by PRTC and the RCMP’s Division Emergency Operations Centre (DEOC) are well-entrenched after several years experience responding to wildfires, floods and other provincial emergencies.
Transcription [A police officer welcomes the officers deploying. They are standing together in a gym with a blue coloured floor. Over 75 officers are standing and listening to the officer who is giving them][You can see tables set up with supplies including masks, radios, and toiletries.There is now a close up shot and on camera interview with Cpl. Curtis Genest of the RCMP]Corporal Curtis Genest – Emergency Response and Operational Readiness Unit: Thank you very much you guys for deploying out to the southeast wildfires. Today we have a deployment of 77-78 members that are going up to the Okanagan. Members will come in they’ll sign in so that we know who they are. Give them their call sign, they’ll get a radio, them their radio. They’ll get a half mask so they can actually breathe properly and then they’ll get a go bag full of water, Gatorade, beef jerky granola bars and then some toiletries. We call it a 72-hour bag .[Then we see a video of a long table full of breathing masks, toiletries, water and snacks like beef jerky.An officer is seen handing a black and red backpack to a deploying officer. The backpack is full of the supplies the officer needs. They call it a 72-hour bag.]Officer at the logistics table: This bag is full of everything you need. Do you have a mask?[There is a short interview and close-up of Cst. Cindy Englouen who is deploying to the wildfires. She is inside the drill hall with the blue floor. She is then seen getting her radio setup with by a PRTC employee.]Deploying member Cst. Cindy Englouen BC Highway Patrol:Things seem to be going a lot more smoothly. There’s a lot more communication and a lot of people offering their help.PRTC radio employee: Cindy, I’ll just get you to grab a radio there. Turn it on, and it’s going to flash up three digits. And just let me know what those three digits are.[There is now a close up shot and on camera interview with Cpl. Curtis Genest of the RCMP Emergency Response and Operational Readiness Unit who is standing outside the brick drill hall at the Pacific Regional Training Centre.]Corporal Curtis Genest – Emergency Response and Operational Readiness Unit - It’s just basically crowd control. Once we get called to deploy members out, usually that city or town has been put on an order to evacuate and we have our members setting up roadblocks to make sure its only emergency resources going and keep all the residents out. We do patrols to make sure there’s no criminal activity happening in that area.[Sgt. Farrer is seen speaking to the group of deploying officers.]Sgt. Robert Farrer National Police Federation Please wear the masks, the air quality up there especially in West Kelowna side or in chase is horrendous, like it is really, really bad. People up there have been working a lot of hours so very, very appreciative of you folks volunteering to come out and do this. I went out to the sites on…and everybody there, they’re working hard, the detachments, southeast district is really pulling out all the stops to try to make it as comfortable a deployment as possible, but really appreciate you folks heading up there.[We can see an overshot of the parking lot, where deploying members park. Back inside the drill room, all the officers have their equipment and are seen lining up at the large white passenger busthat will take them to the wildfires.]Corporal Curtis Genest – Operational Emergency Response and Readiness Unit:PRTC has been chosen basically because we have the building obviously, we’re using the drill hall/gymnasium we can fit a lot of people in here. We have room for parking plus we are close to post garage??(1:55) if we need vehicles we can bring them to the parking lot if we need to fly people we can go to the Chilliwack airport or the Abbottsford air port, vehicle-wise, bus-wise they are just straight to the OkanaganOnce you guys, if you are not going to drive, you guys can go grab your lunch grab your gear and your lunch and head to the bus. Thank you guys very much.Logistics for a situation like this, this is one component. We have people that will call these detachments and that say, we need this amount of members then they go here’s your list, here’s the members were giving you. They come here, and now we give them all their stuff and send them off to where they’re going. This is one component of numerous different tasks that go on. This morning things changed already on how many people are deploying, how many deployments are going on today. Things can change literally enroute, members can get told you are not going to this spot, you’re going to this spot. And we’ve had it in the past where we’ve actually stopped a bus and grabbed a guy out of the bus and taken him somewhere else. It changes every minute almost.[There is a long line of marked RCMP vehicles leaving the training centre, followed by the bus. It is seen driving down the road on its way to the wildfires.]This is technically the third deployment, this is the big one. On Monday we’re going to send up the same amount and these guys are coming back Tuesday, so there’s always an overlap.This is what we do. We are RCMP officers, we go up and try to protect things.
[A police officer welcomes the officers deploying. They are standing together in a gym with a blue coloured floor. Over 75 officers are standing and listening to the officer who is giving them]
[You can see tables set up with supplies including masks, radios, and toiletries.
There is now a close up shot and on camera interview with Cpl. Curtis Genest of the RCMP]
Corporal Curtis Genest – Emergency Response and Operational Readiness Unit: Thank you very much you guys for deploying out to the southeast wildfires. Today we have a deployment of 77-78 members that are going up to the Okanagan. Members will come in they’ll sign in so that we know who they are. Give them their call sign, they’ll get a radio, them their radio. They’ll get a half mask so they can actually breathe properly and then they’ll get a go bag full of water, Gatorade, beef jerky granola bars and then some toiletries. We call it a 72-hour bag .
[Then we see a video of a long table full of breathing masks, toiletries, water and snacks like beef jerky.
An officer is seen handing a black and red backpack to a deploying officer. The backpack is full of the supplies the officer needs. They call it a 72-hour bag.]
Officer at the logistics table: This bag is full of everything you need. Do you have a mask?
[There is a short interview and close-up of Cst. Cindy Englouen who is deploying to the wildfires. She is inside the drill hall with the blue floor. She is then seen getting her radio setup with by a PRTC employee.]
Deploying member Cst. Cindy Englouen BC Highway Patrol:Things seem to be going a lot more smoothly. There’s a lot more communication and a lot of people offering their help.
PRTC radio employee: Cindy, I’ll just get you to grab a radio there. Turn it on, and it’s going to flash up three digits. And just let me know what those three digits are.
[There is now a close up shot and on camera interview with Cpl. Curtis Genest of the RCMP Emergency Response and Operational Readiness Unit who is standing outside the brick drill hall at the Pacific Regional Training Centre.]
Corporal Curtis Genest – Emergency Response and Operational Readiness Unit - It’s just basically crowd control. Once we get called to deploy members out, usually that city or town has been put on an order to evacuate and we have our members setting up roadblocks to make sure its only emergency resources going and keep all the residents out. We do patrols to make sure there’s no criminal activity happening in that area.
[Sgt. Farrer is seen speaking to the group of deploying officers.]
Sgt. Robert Farrer National Police Federation Please wear the masks, the air quality up there especially in West Kelowna side or in chase is horrendous, like it is really, really bad. People up there have been working a lot of hours so very, very appreciative of you folks volunteering to come out and do this. I went out to the sites on…and everybody there, they’re working hard, the detachments, southeast district is really pulling out all the stops to try to make it as comfortable a deployment as possible, but really appreciate you folks heading up there.
[We can see an overshot of the parking lot, where deploying members park. Back inside the drill room, all the officers have their equipment and are seen lining up at the large white passenger busthat will take them to the wildfires.]
Corporal Curtis Genest – Operational Emergency Response and Readiness Unit:PRTC has been chosen basically because we have the building obviously, we’re using the drill hall/gymnasium we can fit a lot of people in here. We have room for parking plus we are close to post garage??(1:55) if we need vehicles we can bring them to the parking lot if we need to fly people we can go to the Chilliwack airport or the Abbottsford air port, vehicle-wise, bus-wise they are just straight to the Okanagan
Once you guys, if you are not going to drive, you guys can go grab your lunch grab your gear and your lunch and head to the bus. Thank you guys very much.
Logistics for a situation like this, this is one component. We have people that will call these detachments and that say, we need this amount of members then they go here’s your list, here’s the members were giving you. They come here, and now we give them all their stuff and send them off to where they’re going. This is one component of numerous different tasks that go on. This morning things changed already on how many people are deploying, how many deployments are going on today. Things can change literally enroute, members can get told you are not going to this spot, you’re going to this spot. And we’ve had it in the past where we’ve actually stopped a bus and grabbed a guy out of the bus and taken him somewhere else. It changes every minute almost.
[There is a long line of marked RCMP vehicles leaving the training centre, followed by the bus. It is seen driving down the road on its way to the wildfires.]
This is technically the third deployment, this is the big one. On Monday we’re going to send up the same amount and these guys are coming back Tuesday, so there’s always an overlap.
This is what we do. We are RCMP officers, we go up and try to protect things.
RCMP officers report for wildfire deployment at PRTC
Members, heavy with personal effects and police equipment, entered the drill hall at PRTC where they were greeted by an employee. The officers provided their personal details and were given a radio call sign. This call sign, unique to the officer, will follow them once they are in the fire zone. Each member is given a radio, then it’s off to the supply table where they pick up safety masks, a go-kit full of snacks, water and toiletries, which allows the officer to be self-sufficient while deployed.
go-kit
These kits were kindly pulled together at a moment’s notice with the generosity of local businesses including the Chilliwack Walmart and London Drugs.
During a send off, Assistant Commissioner John Brewer, BC RCMP’s Acting Commanding Officer, thanked the members for their assistance and encouraged them to reach out if there’s anything they see while in the field that the RCMP could improve. The goal here is your safety, he said. You’re doing a hard job and if you see anything out there that we could do better, bring it forward. Assistant Commissioner Manny Mann and PRTC Superintendent Deborah Bourne also joined A/Commr. Brewer to speak with members prior to their departure to the fire zone.
The goal here is your safety,
You’re doing a hard job and if you see anything out there that we could do better, bring it forward.
RCMP officers load onto a bus that will take them to the wildfires in southeastern British Columbia. These officers will provide relief to those who have already deployed to the area and are ready to come home.
PRTC is the primary training centre for the RCMP in BC and it has also hosted other law enforcement agencies, Canadian Forces and recently, international firefighters deployed in BC.
DEOC continues to liaise with emergency partners from across BC.
RCMP officers from the Lower Mainland arrive in Kelowna
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