Canadian Red Cross officials have been touring northern Manitoba to help brace communities for what may come this summer.
“We’re really preparing for an intense fire season this year. The conditions are very dry,” said Cailin Hodder, provincial manager of the Red Cross’ Manitoba Disaster Management Program.
Through a contract with the federal government, the Red Cross is responsible for coordinating forest-fire-related evacuations of First Nations communities. This includes ensuring evacuees are fed, clothed and lodged.
In Flin Flon and other non-First Nations communities, the Red Cross can be called on to provide similar assistance. In either scenario, volunteers are crucial.
As such, Hodder and colleagues Garth Tohms and Andrew Johnson have been visiting the northern region to meet with existing volunteers, discuss ways to attract new ones and talk to media outlets to help spread the word.
“We need to build our team in the North,” Hodder said during a stop in Flin Flon last week. “That’s kind of the main purpose of this trip, is that we want to promote volunteerism, what we offer as an organization to volunteers and really what it means to volunteer.”
In the Flin Flon-Cranberry Portage area, the Red Cross currently has 16 volunteers and is aiming to recruit at least another 10.
Aside from preparing for forest fires, the organization is actively trying to launch its Personal Disaster Assistance Program, or PDAP, in the Flin Flon region.
Already established in The Pas and Thompson, PDAP ensures victims of smaller-scale disasters, such as house fires or sewage back-ups, have adequate resources and lodging until insurance or government assistance kicks in.
Hodder hopes to have PDAP active in Flin Flon by October and is confident it can be ready to go by June.
She estimates that half of the existing Red Cross volunteers in the region would get involved with PDAP, meaning only two more are needed.
In terms of forest fires and other broader regional disasters, the Red Cross has established Flin Flon, The Pas and Thompson as its base communities for northern Manitoba.
