Fort St. John seeks new emergency support volunteers as wildfire season approaches

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The City of Fort St. John is looking for anyone interested in becoming a volunteer for its Emergency Support Services (ESS).

In a Facebook post uploaded to the city’s page, it announced spots are still open for people who want to train to become a volunteer for ESS.

ESS volunteers are usually recruited in early April and called during evacuations and other emergencies. 

The two courses provided are: 

1. Intro to Emergency Support Services (eight seats left), which is scheduled for Wednesday, February 11th from 2 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. 
2. Introduction to Reception Centres (seven seats left), which is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10th from 2 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. 

Ryan Harvey, communications manager at the City of Fort St. John, told Energeticcity.ca these free training sessions have about 15 seats available and dozens of people sign up and express their interest. 

He said: “These are introductory courses into understanding what Emergency Support Services actually are and what a reception center is and how it operates.” 

He shared that the city has a solid list of trained volunteers. 

“But we’re always looking for more volunteers and the province, as part of the Emergency Support Services, requires some training before people can support in a reception center in the case of an evacuation,” he said, adding these training sessions are for new people looking to get involved. 

People interested have until February 2nd to register for the Intro to Emergency Support Services and March 1st for Introduction to Reception Centres.  

To register, an email can be sent to ess@fortstjohn.ca.