City of Prince George
Tanya Spooner is the Manager of Emergency Programs for the City of Prince George. She has been involved in Emergency Support Services (ESS) since the mid-90s and has held a leadership role in the Prince George ESS team for the past 20 years, and was the Fire Chief for the Cluculz Lake Volunteer Fire Department for 7 years. In October 2023, Tanya was named to the Premier’s Expert Task for on Emergencies and Wildfire and has done considerable work to advocate for ESS teams and local government to bring recommendations for the 2024 wildfire season.
Tanya held key roles during several small host community activations in the past 5 years; the 2007 Prince George Ice Jams, the 2011 Victoria Towers fire in Prince George and in the 2017, 2018 and 2023 wildfire evacuations, during which Prince George Reception Centre’s hosted more than 14,000 evacuees.
Panelists
Dr. Adam Ford
UBC Okanagan
Dr. Amy Cardinal Christianson
Indigenous Leadership Initiative
Angela Kane
Secwepemcul’ecw Restoration and Stewardship Society
Byron Spinks
Council Member, Lytton First Nation
Dave Pascal
First Nations’ Emergency Services
Don Iveson
Co-operators
Jason Brolund
West Kelowna Fire Chief
Jason Hwang
Pacific Salmon Foundation
Joe Gilchrist
Salish Fire Keepers Society
Jordan Coble
Councillor, Westbank First Nation
Kevin Scott
RESOLVE Canada
Dr. Kira Hoffman
UBC-Vancouver and Bulkley Valley Research Centre
Dr. Marc-André Parisien
Canadian Forest Service
Dr. Paul Hessburg
US Forest Service
Renee Merrifield
MLA, Kelowna-Mission
Robert Gray
R.W. Gray Consulting Ltd./Hessburg Landscape Fire Ecology Lab
Robert Phillips
First Nations Summit
Rob Schweitzer
BC Wildfire Service
Dr. Sarah Henderson
BC Centre for Disease Control
Stephanie Ewen
UBC Alex Fraser Research Forest
Tanya Spooner
City of Prince George
Tony Pesklevits
BC Wildfire Service
Moderators
Chris Walker
CBC
Dr. Jill Harvey
Thompson Rivers University
Yolanda Clatworthy
Simon Fraser University