The provincial government is creating a process to deal with the many Central Okanagan wildfire evacuees who were forced to pay for accommodation out-of-pocket due to delays in getting support from Emergency Support Services.
When the McDougall Creek fire and two more wildfires in Kelowna and Lake Country forced tens of thousands of residents from their homes, the ESS reception centre in West Kelowna was completely overwhelmed.
Evacuees reported waits of up to five days to be assessed and receive support.
Minister of Emergency Management Bowinn Ma said Monday the ESS program typically provides support on the day it’s needed, so a system is not in place to retroactively reimburse evacuees for costs they paid themselves.
“That being said, we are acutely aware that the West Kelowna reception centre faced challenges processing the number of evacuees that arrived there in a timely manner, resulting in abnormally long wait times, before being referred to accommodations and receiving per diem support,” Ma said.
“I've asked my ministry to work closely with the local authority managing the West Kelowna reception centre to look at these cases with compassion and flexibility to determine where additional supports might be required.”
Ma said the government is working quickly to establish a process for “people who were unable to receive emergency support services due to long wait times and covered costs for accommodations through their own means.”
Evacuees who fit into that category can call 1-800-585-9559 or email [email protected] and someone will get back to them.
Ma said the government has already worked with the hotel industry to cover costs for evacuees who are still in accommodation, but were only able to register after they secured accommodation.
Ma said the government will also be conducting a “detailed review” of what happened at the West Kelowna ESS centre to understand the cause of the delays and to prevent them in the future.
Central Okanagan ESS coordinator Jason Bedell emphasized at a separate news conference Monday that volunteers have been following provincial policies by not backdating support for evacuees. He urged evacuees to contact the same number Ma provided with their concerns.
Bedell said homeowners who sustained loss or damage and remain out of their homes will continue to receive support if they don’t have insurance. Homeowners are urged to contact their insurance provider if they have one.
The opposition BC United, meanwhile, is urging the provincial government to make evacuees whole.
“When the Emergency Support Services (ESS) registration process was unable to handle the volume of applicants in need of support, a number of evacuees paid for hotel rooms out of their own pockets — whether they could ‘afford’ to or not — and are now being told they’re not eligible for reimbursement,” Kelowna West BC United MLA Ben Stewart said.
“These residents are essentially being punished for a system failure that was no fault of their own, and it’s not right. ... Adjustments to this needs-based approach to ESS registration must be made to ensure this doesn’t happen again. And in the meantime, the NDP government must do the right thing and reimburse these residents immediately."
