Walking the Bowker Creek walkway on a sunny late-summer day, Jacob Tilson marvels at the diversity of the community the short amble displays.
It affords the new emergency programs manager for the Oak Bay Emergency Program insight to the range of demographic in community – and this is the type of community he wants to serve.
“You need to recognize where the strengths and successes are,” Tilson said.
Coming this summer from the Kootenays, the south Island is a return home for Tilson, as he takes over an active and established program. Tilson celebrates its many successes, including a dedicated volunteer base, quickly evident as he interacted with them the second week he arrived back on the Island during the night market – OBEP has a regular table to interact with residents during summer night markets.
“You can see the sense of togetherness and engagement in wanting to make it a better place to live,” he said.
They’re goals he shares and key to creating a resilient and safer place to live.
That means building education online and through events, such as the safety fair Sept. 14 in partnership with the University of Victoria and held on campus.
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A fire in Maui that destroyed a community, and wildfires claiming land, homes and businesses across the province, have spurred interest locally, he said. People are calling to see how they can help ensure this community is safe, and seeing how they can participate.
“I’m excited to see more of that.”
The core messaging remains, it’s important to have an emergency kit at home with a minimum of three days of essential supplies. People should also have a grab-and-go bag for home, work and vehicle.
“I always feel one of the most important considerations for this is planning a family meeting place and reunification plan contact details are so important as we rely so heavily on our phones nowadays,” he says.
Like most in the field, Tilson promotes pushing past the traditional 72 hours, instead being prepared for seven to 14 days. He also recommends using emergency preparedness week in May and Shakeout in October as benchmarks for checking in beyond that standard kit, ensuring it’s up to date with the more personalized items such as medication and pet food.
The coming safety fair is an example many regional partnerships between the 13 local governments in the region – also critical in community resilience. Like many in the region, Oak Bay uses the alertable app to notify residents of a variety of emergencies. Residents can sign up to receive community-specific emergency alerts by phone text or email.
Residents looking for information on how to be prepared, volunteer or register for alerts can visit https://www.oakbay.ca/public-safety/emergency-program.
