Should Castlegar have a place for people to go when wildfire smoke is bad?
It’s something the recreation commission and Regional District of Central Kootenay staff are looking into. The commission received a report on the subject last week from regional recreation manager Kristi Calder.
She noted that over the past several years, wildfire smoke has becoming an increasingly common part of summer in BC and when the air is bad for prolonged stretches, the public often looks for indoor activities.
The community complex has been eyed as a potential site for those activities given its amenities, location, and staff. However, Calder wrote, “While this may appear to be a straightforward service to implement, significant operational, financial, and logistical considerations exist.”
One of the biggest problems, she said, is the unpredictability of smoke: you don’t know whether you are planning a service that will last days, weeks, or not be needed at all in a given year.
The commission will have to decide whether emergency programming should receive an annual budget amount, she said. No operating budget exists for such activities.
While it’s commonly assumed that rec facilities can open spaces or launch programming when air quality is poor, Calder said the reality is more complex.
Staff have to decide whether the air quality health index warrants doing something, then look at what spaces and staff are available, and whether they have to modify existing bookings or programs. Calder said clear criteria would be needed before they come up with a formal response plan.
Options could include both staffed programs with structured activities and unstaffed community spaces where people can gather. Communications would be important so people know when the complex is available.
Another challenge, Calder wrote, is that summers are already busy at the facility with staff managing maintenance and capital projects, camps, and existing bookings and programming.
“Reserving space for additional activities could reduce flexibility and require existing programs to be modified or relocated,” Calder wrote. “As such, holding capacity for emergency programming may result in reduced availability for other recreation services.”
One other consideration is that staff can’t say for certain how much better the air in the rec centre would be compared to outside, because the building is not airtight. Staff are trying to get a handle on what air quality is like on smoky days at all RDCK recreation complexes.
Figuring out when to end programming could be as challenging as deciding when to implement it, Calder wrote: “Without predetermined criteria, service activation and deactivation could become inconsistent and difficult for the public to understand.”
Her report also noted the community complex may not be the only facility that can help residents when the smoke is bad. In Creston, the public library is a designated clean-air space. Other facilities are designated as cooling centre during heat waves. Calder said they could collaborate with the City of Castlegar, emergency managers, and other community organizations to identify potential locations.
Rec commissioners suggested local school gyms could be potential sites, given that they are vacant during the summer. Trisha Davison, the RDCK’s general manager of community services, said this is something that has been discussed with the Kootenay Lake school district, but could also be broached with the Kootenay-Columbia district.
The commission told staff to continue looking into the idea.
