Rob has been a volunteer with the “Emergency Support Services” (ESS) Team on Bowen for the past 2 years and recently expanded his involvement to become part of the Emergency Communications Team (ECT).
The role of the ECT is to support our island’s Emergency Management Program, primarily in events when communication infrastructure may be lost, overcrowded or compromised. In critical events, the team can provide reliable independent island wide communications and communicate with the Provincial Regional Emergency Operations Centre (PREOC), the Volunteer Fire Department (BIVFD), the Emergency Support Service (ESS) team and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in our new firehall when it’s been activated to manage critical operations and logistics.
Rob has experience with radio communications and Emergency Management thru his past volunteer work with Coquitlam Search and Rescue (SAR). Through his involvement with ESS, Rob got to know Bruce Steele, who has been supporting radio communications and ESS here and with the North Shore Emergency Management Office (NSEM) for 15 years. All members in Emergency Management worldwide require a grounding in the “Incident Command System” (ICS-100/200) that is used worldwide when incidents occur.
Rob say’s that being a member of our emergency teams here on Bowen has been rewarding and he looks forward to continuing his training and working with others locally here on Bowen, regionally and possibly even provincially!
If you are interested in volunteering with the ECT team specifically, please contact us at emergencyoperationscentre@bimbc.ca. It can provide a rewarding technical and logistical experience as well as being a valuable asset to our teams here on Bowen and as a trained volunteer to deploy and assist province wide.