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| Shoreline English River, MB (photo by V.A. McMillan, May 2025) |
Evac Order
Non-Compliance: The “YES” Solution
Date: 19 MAY 2025
What if the residents in
your community are in danger from an approaching flood or wildfire, and you
order an evacuation, and yet, some folks do NOT leave? What do you do?
Today, we are going to
explore the scenario above and develop a solution that is a win-win-win
solution. The solution will solve non-compliance for an EM Manager/Coordinator
for a community, the solution will address those who choose to not to
comply with an evac order, and this will forge a stronger community –
building community resilience.
Now, Mountainman, this issue
has been challenging the Emergency Management community for decades. How are
going to solve this?
Please, check egos,
biases, and prejudices before we enter this free thinking, problem-solving
realm…READY?!? Enter those who have an open mind and the willingness to
consider all solutions.
There are a few
challenges for EM Coordinators/Managers when faced with a situation where the
logical solution is to evacuate the impacted persons from harm’s way. This
exploration will look at this from the perspective of either a flood or
wildfire response. Two very common, destructive forces that frequently destroy
communities in our country. These challenges include time, the geographic area
about to be impacted, and available resources. The typical solution to an
advancing wall of fire or water is to get the people out. This requires
communications tools/resources and adequate personnel to make this happen…usually
on short notice. We agree this is normally what happens?? Yes?? And there may
be those who refuse to leave or chose to stay behind to care for their property instead
of leaving as ordered. Those who defy an evac order are seen as the problem
that must be resolved by the EM Coordinator/Manager. How many response hours
and response resources are misappropriated to resolve this “problem”?? Is this
really the top priority problem?? I mean really, is this “The Problem” that
must be resolved, right now?? If it is, this sounds a lot more like ego talking
not logic-based problem-solving. You do not have the time to waste bullying the
non-compliers.
The YES solution. Is to
turn this problem around and make it an opportunity for resilience building.
Those who are in non-compliance likely fall into one of two groups – those who refuse
to leave and those who cannot leave. The second group should have been solved a
long time ago when the municipal emergency response plan was developed,
exercised, and/or revised.
We will focus on the first
group, those who refuse to leave. Why do they refuse to leave? Do they have the
willingness to defend their property and the skills? Do they have a family
emergency plan and the personal resources to resolve rising flood waters or
advancing wildfire flames if left to their ow devices? Are they asking to be
rescued? Are they demanding municipal resources to be prioritized on their
property?
The YES solution is to
deputize those who are willing and prepared to defend their property. This
provides a basis for the win-win-win solution. The short answer is the EM
Coordinator/Manager wins, because as a deputy, the non-compliant are responders
and thus the evac order is still in forced and those remaining are part of the
response and authorized to be there. The homeowner wins because they get to
defend their home and their neighbours’ homes. The community wins because more
resources become available to fight the disaster in more places. Let’s delve
deeper into this solution…
The current solutions are
not working. Making the non-complaint criminals is not a reasonable solution.
Neither is using propaganda or PSYOPS to manipulate the masses. Using “FEAR” as
suggested by Thomas FRANK in their 03 May 2021 article in Scientific America
– “Fear is the Key to Convincing Residents to Evacuate Before a Storm”, is
wrong on so many ethical and moral levels, it is difficult to even beginning list
them. At the RAND Corporation, in 2019 they published RAND Report RR2713 by
Michael J. Mazzarr, et al. – “Hostile Social Manipulation – Present Realities
and Emerging Trends”, where the adverse impacts of propaganda are explored
in our modern context. Suffice to say, using PSYOPS and propaganda against your
own people should be a war crime, in my opinion.
It would seem that
governments at all levels have lost their place in the social hierarchy of
society. Governments are elected by the people to serve the interests of the
people. Citizens are not subjects to be dictated about by the government. The
government serves the people not the other way around. This sense of liberty
and personal responsibility should be remembered.
The punishment model does
not work. In the 2013 Southern Alberta Floods the most egregious acts of
looting were committed by agents of the government – in the name of public
safety. The RCMP’s High River Gun Grab tainted many Canadians trust in
government agents during times of evacuation. If you cannot trust the police to
protect your property when you are forced to leave, then, some will reason, it
is better to stay and protect your property personally. In the end, even after
an inquiry no one from the RCMP was held responsible for this unlawful seizure
of private property and it is still not clear whether or not the RCMP actually
paid for the property damaged by their staff. So, if the national police force
will not be held accountable for transgressions committed during an evacuation,
what purpose is served to hold individual residents to a level of
accountability higher than government agents, if they refuse to evacuate?? Suffice
to say, the current model does not work.
IF we are to deputize
residents into the service of their community/neighbourhood, what model could
we follow? Thankfully, there are not less than four potential models that could
provide the overarching guidance.
1. The Fire Warden Program
2. The Neighbourhood Watch Program
3. The Rural Crime Watch Program
4. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program
All of these programs
could be employed or modified to meet the needs of a community response to a
disaster event. It would be in the community’s best interest to establish a
program before it was needed. However, that is not always possible. The EM
Coordinator/Manager should have one of these programs in their “back pocket”
and ready to deploy if needed. This will offer some structure for organizing
these citizen responders. Have a commander and deputies, fire warden and street
wardens, a block captain and street sergeants; or any other hierarchy system to
create a reporting chain and accountability. The one portion that may need to
be formalized on paper is utilizing the wildfire safety system of using
L.A.C.E.S. – Lookouts, Anchors, Communications, Escape
routes, and Safe Zones. A big concern for EM Coordinators/Managers is
the liability of injuries or deaths by those who are known to remain in an
evacuated zone. Therefore, a system must be available to educate the deputies about LACES. Then, coordinate through the EM Operations Section to keep the lookouts
informed of changes in wind/weather conditions that may precede a change in
fire or water behaviour.
Why would you allow a
resident to be a deputy? First and foremost, unlike other responders, a
resident has a vested interest in the positive outcome from the event response.
These people have “skin” in the game. They have something to lose. They are
motivated. They want to make a difference. They do not want to abandon their
responsibilities to others, if they can help it.
Second, residents are
more likely to be aware of those who do not belong in their neighbourhood. The
RCMP or contract security agents manning a roadblock or checkpoint may or may
not actually recognize who should be allowed to pass. Once found inside the evac
zone, a deputy is more likely to communicate with their contact that
unauthorized persons are roaming around. And are more likely to intercept said
individual(s) and escort them out of the evac zone to the checkpoint or
roadblock. There is a difference between residents being in non-compliance with
an evac order and those who take advantage of an opportunity to help themselves
to the possessions of others when the police are busy doing other tasks outside
the evac zone. Hollywood takes creative license to invoke fear in the populace during
disaster movies about the troubles created by looters. Fact or fiction, looting
is a concern of displaced people during an evacuation. Having deputies inside
the evac zone will go a long way of mitigating looting, by establishing an
early warning system.
Finally, the deputies are
available to refuel pumps, operate hoses, and conduct initial attack on embers
as they land on flammable materials in their area. If overwhelmed, the deputy
or deputies will communicate their situation, follow their escape route to the
safe zone and wait for conditions to change.
The only thing most
deputies would ask, would be to be granted “In and Out” privileges; to get
food, more fuel for pumps or generators, and to conduct shift changes. This may
actually, mitigate some of the liability concerns expressed by EM Coordinators/Managers.
Instead of the current model where residents in non-compliance “hide out” on
their property avoiding “officials”, potentially getting very little sleep or
missing meals, becoming exhausted…potentially sleeping through a change in
conditions. In and Out privileges could keep fresh deputies on duty.
How does the community
win? With deputies, even unpaid volunteer deputies, caring for property in the
neighbourhoods, becomes a force multiplier. Would it be better to train these
deputies? Of course it would. Again, this already exists. Community Emergency
Response Teams (CERT) training is available right now to training members of a
community to become neighbours caring for neighbours. This program is very similar
to Civil Defence training that was once promoted by the Government of Canada. A
prepared community is an asset not a liability. At this very moment the
government response to emergencies and disasters is in desperate need of allies
to fortify the response. This could be achieved by a shift to deputizing those
who are non-compliant with evacuation orders.
Until next time…become
part of the solution!
Mountainman.
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