Organizers of the Ashcroft Moving Forward group held a meeting on April 21 to go over details of the fan-out list that volunteers have been compiling. Sandy Agatiello, who has been designated as fan-out captain, says that the group will be holding a test run of the system in Ashcroft on May 27 between 5 and 6 p.m.
“We want to see if it’s going to work,” says Agatiello. Volunteers have been collecting names and contact information for residents of the three main communities in Ashcroft—downtown, north Ashcroft, and the Mesa subdivision—as well as residents southwest of Ashcroft toward Barnes Lake and those who live in TNRD Area “I” along the Bonaparte.
“We went over the logistics, what a fan-out is, how it works, and the responsibilities of the people doing it,” says Agatiello of the April 21 meeting. “We had handouts with information, and a flow chart showing how a fan-out works.”
She stresses that it is very important that the only information passed on to residents during a fan-out comes from an official source. “We’re just there to provide information.” One of the purposes of the trial run will be to see how consistent the message is that residents receive. “We know that a fan-out is imperfect, and there are many ways the chain can break down.”
In the event that a fan-out—either by telephone or on foot—is needed, the fan-out captain will obtain official information and pass it along to the area leaders, who will then convey it to the primary people for each smaller area within the larger one. Residents will then be provided with the necessary information as quickly as possible.
“We’ve also identified people who need help in an emergency,” says Agatiello, “and this will be developed over time. People with mobility issues, or no transportation. Some people [in the group] have indicated they can help with transportation. But we need to go back to get a little bit more information.”
On May 27 volunteers will be given a script, and the intention of the exercise is to see if the information gets to residents. “What are they hearing? It will just be a telephone fan-out for now. If the line is busy we’ll try all the numbers we have [for the resident] again. If there’s still no answer we’ll leave a message. Then we’ll get feedback from people to see how long it took to get the information, where things are working, and what gaps there are.”
There were alsp a lot of good conversations at the meeting about other matters. “Having designated muster stations was a big one,” says Agatiello, although she notes that the location of muster stations will vary depending on the location and nature of a disaster or emergency. “We also talked about utilizing the local radio station if possible, and whether the school could do an emergency drill practice about a train derailment, say.”
Agatiello notes that there are still some areas of town where there are no alternates in case the primary people are away or unavailable in the event a fan-out is needed. “And some people are doing too many residences.” Anyone who wants to volunteer can contact Agatiello at (250) 682-4336, while anyone who has not yet provided contact information and would like to can contact committee member Sheila Corneille at srcorn@telus.net. Other committee members at the present time are Nancy White, Deb Tuohey, and Cindy Skakun, along with dozens of other volunteers.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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