Essentials
Who to call when things go wrong
For a life-threatening emergency, call 9-1-1 and stop reading. For everything else out here, the answer is real but scattered: the pass report, the fire map, the outage line, the nurse line, whose evacuation alerts actually cover your town. This page holds them in one place: the doors, and every province-wide number, each checked against its own site. The local numbers go on the fridge sheet in your own pen.
The roads
Road conditions, closures and webcams for every highway in the province. In winter, check it before Kootenay Pass, the Paulson, or Rogers Pass, in that order of respect.
Fires, floods and evacuation alerts
Evacuation alerts here are issued by your regional district, and the coverage does not follow town lines: Trail's alerts come from the Kootenay Boundary district, not the city. Find yours below and sign up before the smoke season, not during it.
The province's official feed during floods, fires and evacuations. If an order or alert is issued, it appears here.
Current wildfires, fire danger ratings, and burning restrictions.
Regional District of Central Kootenay
Runs the emergency program and evacuation alerts for most of the West and Central Kootenay. Look for emergency notifications on their site and sign up.
Regional District of East Kootenay
Runs the emergency program and evacuation alerts for the East Kootenay, the Elk Valley and the Columbia Valley. Look for their emergency alert signup.
Regional District of Kootenay Boundary
Runs the emergency program and evacuation alerts for Greater Trail and the Boundary. Look for their emergency alert signup.
Save this page before you need it.
Someone to talk to, any hour
For anyone thinking about suicide, or worried about someone who is. Free, any hour, call or text.
checked at 988.ca
310 Mental Health Support
310-6789Emotional support and mental health information for BC, no area code needed.
checked at gov.bc.ca
For kids, teens and young adults. Nobody is too young to call about anything.
checked at kidshelpphone.ca
VictimLinkBC
1-800-563-0808Confidential help for victims of crime, family violence and abuse.
checked at gov.bc.ca
Health
A nurse on the phone, any hour of any day, free. The number to call when it is worrying but not an emergency.
BC Drug and Poison Information Centre
Poison and overdose advice around the clock, at 1-800-567-8911.
Runs every public hospital and health centre in the region. Walk-in wait times, facility pages, and public health notices.
Hospitals and health centres, on the List
See it, smell it, report it
The BC Wildfire Service line. Smoke on a hillside is worth the call.
checked at emergencyinfobc.gov.bc.ca
Gas leak or gas smell
1-800-663-9911The FortisBC 24-hour gas emergency line. Leave the building first, then call.
checked at fortisbc.com
Poison or a bad reaction
1-800-567-8911The BC poison centre, around the clock. Have the container in your hand when you call.
checked at dpic.org
Spill on land or water
1-800-663-3456The provincial spill line for fuel, chemicals, or anything reaching a creek.
checked at gov.bc.ca
Power and gas outages
Most of the East Kootenay and much of the rural West.
Much of the West Kootenay and southern interior, and the gas network across the region.
Nelson generates and sells its own power, and the city site carries its outage line.
Grand Forks also runs its own electrical utility.
Which one is yours is printed on your bill, and nowhere else is authoritative. The four patches above are broad strokes, said so on purpose.
The RCMP, detachment by detachment
For a crime in progress, 9-1-1. For everything else, the non-emergency line of your detachment, and these are the detachments on the List.
After the emergency
For residents and for the people who employ them: the lines for the day after.
ICBC claims
1-800-910-4222Report a crash and start the claim, any hour.
checked at icbc.com
WorkSafeBC, unsafe work or incidents
1-888-621-7233Report unsafe working conditions or a workplace incident. For employers and workers both.
checked at worksafebc.com
WorkSafeBC claims
1-888-967-5377Start or ask about a claim after a workplace injury.
checked at worksafebc.com
Help that is not an emergency
A free, confidential directory of community and social services: housing help, food banks, counselling, seniors' support. Dial 2-1-1 or search online.
How this page is kept
Every door and every number here was checked against its own live site on 24 AUG 2026. The doors are front doors on purpose: while building this page, four deeper links that looked right were already dead while every front door held. The numbers are the province-wide lines only, each one carrying the page it was checked against, because a local number that changes on someone else's website should never sit frozen on this one. If anything here has moved, tell me and I will fix it.
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