Skip to content

Emergency Social Services recruiting in Barriere

Learn how you can help your community when an emergency happens?
27825063_web1_220120-NTS-BarriereESS-ESS_1
(L-r) Barriere Emergency Social Service (ESS) professional volunteers, Wanda Nystoruk and Leslie Stirling, are shown attending an ESS information table in the community during Emergency Preparedness Week in 2019. (Barriere Star Journal photo)

The Barriere Emergency Support Services (ESS) group is starting a membership drive due to several long time members recently moving away or retiring from the group. For those of you who don’t know what ESS is or does, here is some basic information about this volunteer organization.

Back in the 1990’s, the government brought out the Emergency Program Act. The act states that local authorities are responsible for emergency planning and response, including ESS, and that the provincial government is responsible for supporting local authorities in this responsibility.

The local authority is responsible for the planning and coordination of a local ESS response, which would include “coordinating the provision of food, clothing, shelter, transportation and medical services to victims of emergencies and disasters, whether that provision is made from within or outside of the local authority.”

The Barriere ESS group is an integral part of Emergency Management in the North Thompson. ESS help people to remain independent and self-sufficient; help people to meet their basic needs during a disaster, and help reunite families separated by disaster. A number of local ESS members were in Kamloops helping out during the evacuation of residents from Merritt during the floods, as well as the evacuation of Lytton during the devastating 2021 Lytton Creek wildfire.

ESS is supported by many organizations, including the Provincial Emergency Program.

ESS assists in providing primary services for those impacted, such as food, lodging, clothing, family reunification (registration and inquiry) and sometimes, when the situation merits it, specialized services such as emotional support, first aid, child care, and pet care.

ESS is purely volunteer driven, and there are over 5,000 volunteers and staff across B.C.

Citizens of the North Thompson who have been displaced from their residence by a disaster or emergency can expect to meet ESS volunteers who get called out for incidents ranging from a single family house fire, to calamities involving mass evacuation (such as the recent wildfires).

Services are typically available for 72 hours immediately following the start of an event, and can be extended in exceptional circumstances on a case-by-case basis.

During these first 72 hours, evacuees are advised to immediately plan their next steps by contacting; insurance agents (if relevant), family and friends, and local non-profit agencies.

In the event of a major event, ESS teams will assist evacuees at reception centres, and they can also provide outreach services for shut-ins, group lodging (shelter and food) during a major event, and on-site services to response workers.

Level 1 ESS volunteers provide on-site services for small scale incidents (involving one to two residences).

A lot of work has been done over the years by Barriere ESS. This work includes identifying various facilities suitable for use as reception centers, establishing links with key local emergency responders, and reaching agreements with many local businesses and service organizations. Every year Barriere ESS provides training for their volunteers.

If you are interested in joining Barriere ESS, or would like more information, you can chat with a representative at the next Barriere Farmer’s Market in the Barriere Senior’s Hall on Jan. 29, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ESS volunteers will be there to answer your questions and take your contact information so you can be notified when the next ESS meeting will be taking place.

_______________

news@starjournal.net

Like us on Facebook