City, KFR to show Juniper residents the routes

Neighbourhood-wide fire drills will soon be coming to Juniper Ridge.

Residents are being invited to take part in a mock evacuation to familiarize themselves with newly paved emergency access routes the City of Kamloops has completed two years after a large wildfire threatened homes in the area.

The fire broke out in the hills between Valleyview and Juniper during a lightning storm in the evening on Canada Day 2021, which threatened homes in both areas. No injuries were sustained and no homes were lost, though criticism followed over long waits to get down Highland Road (the only paved way out) from Juniper Ridge and communication from the city during the emergency situation. Gates across dirt access roads in west Juniper were left locked before those locks were cut open by fleeing residents.

A second paved, permanent and public road is expected to be complete by 2025, but enhancements to three locked emergency access roads are now complete in the event of another wildfire — two to the west extending from Galore and Coldwater Drives and one to the east off Kickinghorse Drive.

Fire Chief Ken Uzeloc told KTW the city intends to provide Juniper residents a tour of the new emergency routes in an effort to reassure them of the new plans the city has in place should another evacuation need to occur.

“We’re opening up the routes for people to see them, Uzeloc said. “We’re going to provide you an opportunity to drive the routes so you can see where it ends, how the road flows in case you ever need to be on it.”

The city’s emergency preparedness manager Will Beatty told KTW no dates have been set yet, but he is anticipating holding the tours on the last two weekends of July.

Once those dates are in place, the city will spread the word to Juniper residents, asking them to pre-register for the tours, which will likely be held on separate days and weekends and could involve multiple tours to ensure as many people as possible can get a sense of the routes.

Uzeloc said they plan to tour at least two of the three routes — the Coldwater Drive emergency access leading to High Canada Place and the Juniper East emergency access from Kickinghorse Drive that connects to Valleyview Drive.

The tours will involve community service officers (CSO) opening the locked gates and escorting a convoy of vehicles along the routes.

“We’ll have staff positioned along the route to make sure people stay on the right roads,” Uzeloc added.

The tour is essentially a mock version of what the city’s procedure will be in the event of another fire, and another reason for the tour is to get a sense of how well it will work.

During the tour, and in the event of a real fire, CSO’s will be stationed at various points along the emergency access routes.

“We don’t want people scrambling and driving too fast and then something happens and the road’s blocked,” Uzeloc said.

Highland Road, which is the only public road in and out of Juniper, would still be utilized to evacuate residents during a real fire and the inbound lanes left open for emergency vehicles if it is not blocked, Uzeloc said.