Wildfires should start regionalization conversation, says Municipalities N.L.
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Municipalities N.L. is renewing its call for regionalization after a summer of wildfires highlighted the issues unincorporated communities face during emergencies — including a lack of emergency services and communication from a point person.
To fill those gaps during the Kingston wildfire in Conception Bay North, members of the town of Small Point-Adam's Cove-Blackhead-Broad Cove stepped up.
"Their council actually volunteered to go into their neighbouring communities after the fact to assess the damage," said Municipalities N.L. CEO Rob Nolan. "That's an example of what happens when you don't have elected leadership to go in to speak for those communities."
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During the wildfire, though, Nolan said it was confusing for people — and the province — to distinguish between the local service districts and unincorporated areas.
"Any of us who received the media releases saw that even the province got it wrong with which of the communities were towns, which of the communities were local service districts, which were unincorporated areas," he told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show.
Lethbridge wildfire
To stay in the know, Nolan said, residents of many unincorporated areas look to their neighbouring towns for information.
He said this happened last weekend in the local service district of Lethbridge, where a bark pile ignited a small forest fire.
"Lethbridge has a local service district committee, a Facebook page, those sorts of communication channels," Nolan said. "Neighbouring communities are unincorporated areas out there. So they were looking to Lethbridge to know what to do."
Provincial fire duty officer Wes Morgan told CBC's Newfoundland Morning the Lethbridge wildfire is being held and there is no longer an evacuation order in place, as fire crews work to keep the fire contained.
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"They've been out working and trying to create this buffer between the bark pile and forested land," Morgan said.
A sprinkler has also been installed in the area.
"It's just an extra precautionary measure put in place should the fire spread out," he said.
Across the province, many unincorporated areas don't have their own fire departments.
Nolan said this is an issue during emergencies like wildfires because volunteer firefighters from other communities will respond, but they may not have crews knocking on their doors to make sure no one is home during an evacuation.
"They're really left to their own devices aside from the provincial coordination," he said.
Several people lost cabins in Chance Harbour in July. It is not a designated municipality. (Ryan Pitts/Facebook via CBC)
Election issue
To improve the situation, Nolan said Municipalities N.L. is trying to make regionalization a provincial election issue.
He said the province could use British Columbia's regionalization model as a blueprint.
"They have regional districts, so that means that the whole province is divided up into regions and regional districts, and those regional districts have boards that have elected representation from the local communities," Nolan said.
The Kingston wildfire tore through the north shore in August. Residents from some of the area's unincorporated areas relied on information from the town of Small Point-Adam's Cove-Blackhead-Broad Cove. (Katie Breen/CBC)
SEE ALSO: Crews continue fight against Kingston fire
Unincorporated areas without a council would have to hold an election so one or two people could sit around that table.
While regionalization allows unincorporated areas to choose services they want from a regional district, safety is top of mind for Nolan.
"The wildfires have brought this to a head again and really show, in terms of emergency management, why this is so important," he said.
Municipalities N.L. proposed regionalization in 2022. The province rejected its proposal, citing low population density and geography as the main issues.
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This article, written by Jenna Head, was originally published for CBC News.