About
We are the Red Mountain Road and Enterprise Creek Emergency Preparedness Society (REEPS) — a grassroots group of residents brought together by the 2024 Slocan Lake Complex wildfires. That experience underscored the urgent need for stronger local resilience in the face of wildfires and other emergencies.
Our aim is to support and strengthen community safety through prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. While we deeply appreciate the work of the official agencies who responded last summer, we also saw first-hand where local knowledge and coordination can help fill in critical gaps.
Our early priorities include helping our community and our landscape recover from the wildfires, mapping local infrastructure and resources for emergency response, improving communications during crises, supporting FireSmart initiatives, and training volunteers to work safely and effectively alongside emergency services. We're committed to long-term, collaborative work — and we're just getting started.
Learn more about our current projects or get in touch if you'd like to help.
Meet the Board
Our volunteer board blends deep local knowledge with professional expertise to guide REEPS's projects and partnerships. They ensure we stay grounded in community needs while building lasting resilience for our neighbourhoods.
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Blaine Cook
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Gordo Bone
“I joined REEPS because I have personally experienced the threat of wildfires; I am committed to ensuring our community is safe, informed, and ready should fire return to our area.”
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Mark van Engelen
“Based on the 2024 fires there were quite some gaps and opportunities that I believe we should address as a community so we are better prepared for next emergency.”
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Nicky Blackshaw
“Our community will be better prepared for, and able to recover from, an emergency or natural disaster if we look out for one another and work together.”
Sally Hammond
“Proactively Communicate + Collaborate + Coordinate = increased Community Resilience.”
We recognize that this land has been cared for by the Sinixt, Sylix Okanagan, Ktunaxa and Secwepemc peoples, their Elders and ancestors. By recognizing our interconnectedness with the land, animals and plants may we be reminded of our responsibilities towards the land and its teachings. May this acknowledgment be a gentle invitation to listen deeply, live consciously and walk in relationship, not as guests but as stewards in kinship, guided by the wisdom of the land and the teaching it continues to offer.