It’ll be residents of Juniper Ridge first, but Kamloopsians across the city could be put though evacuation drills in the near future.

Fire Chief Ken Uzeloc says the goal is to give people first-hand access to the escape routes, while also allowing emergency personnel to test traffic management and other escape plans.

“The GIS department has done a really good job of mapping out different areas and we can see how people are in there and pre-plan what routes out of that community would be best, depending on where the emergency is and which direction its moving,” Uzeloc said. “That work has continued beyond Juniper.”

“It’s going to be something that we’ll be evolving obviously based on the risk. Juniper is one of the higher risk areas so we’re starting there.”

The fire in Juniper East on Canada Day in 2021 didn’t destroy any properties, but saw those trying to flee the flames trapped in their vehicles on Highland Road due to a lack of available escape routes.

It accelerated plans to create for emergency egress routes, with work on a second permanent route also underway.

“[These plans] wouldn’t be just for wildfire. That could be for hazardous materials spills. It could be for a number of things,” Uzeloc said.

“We can issue those evacuation orders, figure out what’s the best route to move then and have a rough idea how long its going to take based on how many people are there.”

Residents in Kamloops, Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc, and the Thompson-Nicola Regional District are also being encouraged to sign up for the Voyent Alert so they can be directly notified people about emergency updates by text, phone call, email, or through the app itself.