Old Fort resident raise concerns about lack of communication amid landslide evacuation

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A resident of Old Fort has alleged that there was a lack of communication from the Peace River Regional District (PRRD) regarding the Old Fort Landslide. 

An emergency alert was issued by the PRRD at approximately 7.30 p.m. on April 20th, asking residents to prepare to evacuate “immediately” due to a landslide posing a “significant risk to life” on Old Fort Road. 

Art Smith, a resident of Old Fort, said in a written statement to Energeticcity.ca at approximately 11 a.m. on April 21st: “It was published that prior to the evacuation, the residents of Old Fort were told to shelter in place, which is a blatant lie.”

“As of this minute, we have not received any communication from the PRRD.” 

Smith claims people in Old Fort did not receive any notifications, including the evacuation order alert on April 20th, and called this “suspicious.” 

“The evacuation alert that was issued last night [April 20th] was not received by any of the residents in Old Fort other than some who were in town when it was issued,” he added. 

The PRRD Emergency Operation Centre, in a written statement to Energeticcity.ca, said that it uses multiple methods to notify residents during emergencies, including emergency alerts, broadcasts to devices in the affected areas and updates posted to the PRRD website and Facebook page. 

“For this event, as soon as the evacuation order and emergency evacuation plans were initiated by the coordinating agencies, alerts were issued through both NEBC Alerts [North East BC] and the BC Emergency Alert system,” the statement reads. 

The PRRD said it is actively looking into reports that some residents may not have received the BC Emergency Alert. 

“We will continue to review how alerts were received and make improvements where needed,” it added.  

Peace River North MLA Jordan Kealy said he has inquired with the Ministry of Transportation and Transit about people not receiving the emergency alerts. 

“I forwarded that to the ministry and they’re going to investigate what happened in that scenario,” he added. “So I’m not sure if it’s just a scenario of bad service there, but that should never happen when there’s an emergency, people should know what’s going on.” 

Smith alleged residents first heard of the evacuation order at approximately 8 p.m. on April 20th.

“[It was] when multiple helicopters landed in the middle of our community, RCMP and SAR’s [Search and Rescue] members started going door to door,” he said, questioning why the community was not notified early in the day when this complex coordination was being done.

PRRD said the RCMP and Search and Rescue teams were immediately deployed by helicopter to the area. 

“These teams were able to attend every home in the area prior to the road opening.” 

The landslide continues to move, and there is no safe road access into or out of Old Fort, it said. 

Emergency services and essential resources are unable to reach the area. 

The PRRD is encouraging the community to reach out to friends or family in the affected areas to help ensure they have the latest information. 

“We will also continue to provide updates as more information becomes available,” it noted.