Wednesday, April 12, 2023 edition — BC’s 9-1-1 agency struggles

Apr 12, 2023 | Today: 🌥️ High 12C, Low 0C | 7-day forecast

Good morning!

The new “now hiring” section of the newsletter has been fun to research for. There’s some interesting jobs out there: one of them, a spot in Langley’s famous barbecue food truck, sounded pretty familiar.

I spent a good chunk of one summer working in a mini donut truck when I was in high school. Now, whenever summer rolls in, accompanied by the fleet of food trucks, I smell the barbecue sauce and potato tornados and I’m suddenly 14 years old scrubbing grease out of my shoes again. My hair smelled like cinnamon sugar the entire summer. To this day, though, the donuts (deep fried dangerously on the stove now, instead of in the cool machine in the back of the truck) are my go-to contribution to any party or potluck.

Thanks to Quinn, Mary, Lando, and so many others for subscribing yesterday. Join them and subscribe here.

NEWS

As BC’s 9-1-1 agency struggles, callers wait longer to report crimes & get help

After years of robbing Peter to pay Paul, the agency that handles most 9-1-1 calls in British Columbia is increasingly struggling to keep up with calls from its public.

That has both affected its ability to connect callers with dispatchers, and left it neglecting non-emergency callers altogether.

Facing staffing shortages, E-Comm 9-1-1 has only been able to keep up with the flood of urgent calls by pulling staff from the non-emergency police lines it is also supposed to answer. That’s leading huge numbers of those non-urgent callers to hang up before ever getting to speak to a person on the other end of the line. And in Abbotsford, even some 9-1-1 callers also encounter significant waits to talk to a person who can actually send help on its way.

Abbotsford’s police chief has declared the situation “unacceptable,” and his department has hired their own staff, at the cost of more than $100,000 each year, to do a job they’ve already paid E-Comm to do.

But although E-Comm says it is trying to improve its responses, officials are also warning the public that they might need to accept that not all non-emergency calls end up being answered by an actual human.

Today, Tyler writes about the struggles faced by BC’s main 9-1-1 agency, and how that’s affecting residents in desperate need of help, as well as those with urgent need to report crimes and seek information from their public emergency departments.

Need to know

🚒 Police arrested a man suspected of lighting the Agassiz Thrift Store on fire [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

🧗 Work on cliffs next to Highway 1 west of Hope will close the highway for 20 minutes at a time beginning April 17; the half-hour closures are expected to last for six weeks [Province of BC]

🐟 The Fraser River is at record low levels, and that’s having impacts on Harrison’s boat operators, the economy and fish [CTV]

👉️ An Abbotsford school district trustee wants to bring awareness and reduce stigma surrounding the toxic drug crisis by sharing her son’s story [Abbotsford News]; The Current presented Shirley and Jacob Wilson's story earlier this year [FVC]

🚍️ Striking bus drivers in the Fraser Valley are planning a rally in Chilliwack; the union is denying the employer’s claim of illegal activity on picket lines [Chilliwack Progress]

🔥 A fire in a Hope shop was the small town’s fourth such blaze this month [Hope Standard]

🏚️ Rebuilding after the Fraser Valley flood in 2021 is getting harder as borrowing money gets more expensive [Globe and Mail]

➡️ Langley Township's mayor is ‘a bit concerned’ about the province's new housing rules [Langley Advance Times]

👉️ The Chilliwack Youth Health Centre is struggling for funding without the resources of provincially-run operations like Foundry [Chilliwack Progress]

🏃‍♂️ Volunteers raised $34,000 in a stair-running marathon for emergency room chairs in Abbotsford Regional Hospital [Abbotsford News]

☺ TODAY’S SMILE: Travellers on a BBC reality TV show were aghast by the lack of public transit between Vancouver and Prince Rupert; some got stuck in Whistler [CBC]

🚜 EcoFarm Fest 2023 is a family-friendly farm and food market event including local food, music, and entertainment. Don’t miss this free community event!*

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Big Band Swing Dance & Silent Auction with the Dal Richards Orchestra

On Friday, May 12, the historic Fort Langley Community Hall will be transformed into a classic ballroom for the Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival 2023 Big Band Swing Dance & Silent Auction.

The night will feature the Dal Richards Orchestra, playing echoes of the big band era as well as free swing dance lessons, a silent auction, and cash bar.

Dal Richards was a mainstay of the big band orchestra era in Vancouver for many years, and his legacy continues with the Dal Richards Orchestra. For more event information, click here.

Get your tickets now.

The Agenda

Mission to consider mass LED streetlight conversion

Mission may look to replace thousands of streetlights with LED bulbs in the coming years. But it hasn’t yet committed to following neighbouring cities like Abbotsford.

MIssion has 1,450 high-pressure sodium streetlight fixtures and just 270 LED ones. The LED ones last much longer and consume much less energy, and many communities have swapped out the bulbs.

Doing so, though, will carry a significant up-front pricetag for Mission, with the cost expected to be around $565,000, staff told council earlier this month. But the project would be expected to pay for itself after five years, and save money every subsequent year.

Currently, staff are replacing the sodium bulbs with LED fixtures as the old bulbs burn out. Replacing them all at once would be more time-efficient, staff say.

Council hasn’t yet given the final go-ahead for the project; a decision would likely come next year, Mayor Paul Horn said. But he suggested that he would be in favour of the conversion.

“It makes sense fiscally, it makes sense environmentally.”

Coun. Jag Gill, though, suggested that the price tag may be too high and he might be in favour of maintaining the current gradual changeover process.

The lights are also quite bright, Coun. Ken Herar suggested. While he liked seeing them in his neighbourhood, Herar asked staff if residents have complained.

Council was told there had been “very few” residents who have been displeased by the brightness.

🤝 Now hiring

• Food truck: Texas Smoke Barbeque—a barbecue food truck—is hiring for multiple positions.

• Compost manager: Champ’s Fresh Farms, a mushroom farm in Abbotsford, is hiring a manager to expand their composting operation.

• Virtual reality content moderator: Concentrix, a customer experience company in Chilliwack, is hiring a content moderator who specializes in social media.

• Community support worker: The Chilliwack Society for Community Living is hiring more staff for its adult supportive homes.

• Operating room aid: Fraser Health is hiring an aid who will help sterilize, set up, and clean operating rooms in Langley.

• Cooks and kitchen staff: the Rose Room Coffee Shop in Garden Park Tower in Abbotsford is looking for kitchen staff members.

Hiring in the Fraser Valley? Reply back and let us know!

📸 Current Cam

Each week we showcase a different photo from across the valley and invite readers to share their best guesses about where it was taken.

Any guesses as to where this week’s Current Cam was taken? Fill out this form with your best guess—or with a picture we can use in a future edition.

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