Paul Edmonds settled in British Columbia in 2018 from a successful UK career. He has appreciation and gratitude to call the Okanagan his new home and acknowledges he works within First Nation territories that have inalienable Aboriginal Title and Rights.
His first role in BC was managing the Okanagan Similkameen floods, landslides, and fires of 2018. He went on to provide subject matter expert for the Boundary Flood Recovery in Kootenay Boundary and Grand Forks areas.
In the section below, you can read more about Paul's experience and how the 2018 season was taken within his stride with fabulous learning along the way. Being a life long learner helps.
In British Columbia, Paul now assists many different governments and organizations in many different roles. Red Dragon has delivered advanced planning, response planning, flood response planning, wildfire communications, operational response procedures, gap analysis, and evacuation plans. Mitigation strategies and risk assessments. Grant writing including assisting on a major DMAF. EOC Design and Exercise. Industrial risks. Mentoring. Recommending measures to protect cultural heritage. Taken part in local and provincial workshops in shaping the future. To name a few.
He also works with qualified professionals to deliver resiliency and mitigation projects.
Red Dragon's Principal Consultant and founder, Paul Edmonds, is a provincially qualified supplier of emergency management and an ICS Canada approved instructor.
Incident sector experience:
Floods - fluvial (riverine) overland, groundwater, tidal, and dam.
Wildfire - BC wildlife and UK heath and grassland
Debris and landslide
Industrial site inspection and contingency planning
Maritime, Ports, and Harbours contingency planning
Air, land and water contamination (including human health)
Land use and contaminated land
Conservation
Civil Emergency, industrial action, crown and unrest
Business Continuity
Radiation and Nuclear consequence contingency planning
Explosion impact
Police and Miltary events - special operations
UK Government Agency Federal equivalent to PSC/EMBC, FLNRORD, MOE, MEMPR, (and a few other departments).
Roles in the UK:
Chairperson Wales Emergency Planning Society 2015 – 2017 (UK Role)
Incident and Flood Risk Strategy Lead
Gov Agency / Wales, UK 2015 – 2017 (National Role)
Advised and directed operations, Government and emergency services for emergency issues that affect people, communities, economy, infrastructure and the environment of Wales. {Similar to PSC/EMCR/MoE Executive Role}
Senior Incident Strategy Advisor Gov Agency / Wales, UK / 2014 – 2015 (National Role)
· Directed developed and published NRW’s National strategic work on incident management and Business Continuity in how it affects the people, communities, stakeholders, economies, and environment.
· Lead Government Resilience Manager
· Chaired, directed, and actively participated in numerous regional and national events/exercises for all incident sectors. {Similar to PSC/EMCR/MoE Director Role}
Senior Change Manager Gov Agency / Wales, UK / 2013 – 2014 (National Role)
· Senior Change Manager for incident management mandate of the joining of three UK Government National Agencies.
· National lead for developing training and exercise competence programs. {Similar to PSC/EMCR/MoE Director Role}
Senior Project Manager Gov Agency / Wales, UK / 2012 – 2013 (National Role)
· Transition Project Manager for a new government organization, contract manager for IT systems, flood warning, operating systems, and program manager for new working practices.
Flood Recovery Manager Gov Agency / Wales, UK / 2012 (National Role) {Similar to PSC/EMCR/MoE Director Role}
· Organizational task force commander, flood mitigation and multi-sector impact assessment of public, communities, commercial and environmental issues to assess flood and environmental impacts.
Chairperson and member roles
· National Member of UK Pipeline Security Group 2013 - 2017
· Energy Mutual Aid Partnership Chairperson 2010-2015
· Regional Police Force Area Risk Chairperson 2008 -2014
· National Risk Group member 2008-2014
· Regional Police Tactical and Coordinating Group member 2002-2015.
Incident and Emergencies Business Partner Gov Agency / Wales, UK 2006 – 2012 (National Role)
· Senior Inspector (warranted) for managing and coordinating reactive and proactive multi-agency preparedness and response.
· Single point of contact with Emergency Services, Public Health Authorities, Utilities, Local Authorities, and voluntary organizations.
· Government Liaison Officer (decision maker) of all sector incidents including enforcement and security.
{Note: Similar to PSC/EMCR SRM/MoE Senior Role}
Water Quality Manager Gov Agency / Wales, UK 2005 – 2006 (Multi-regional Role)
· Managed teams responsible for water quality monitoring, managed £400K and a laboratory budget of £4M pa.
Senior Supervisor & Investigator (Warranted) Gov Agency / Wales, UK / 2002 – 2005 (Regional Role)
· Senior Inspector and Prosecuting Officer for emergencies, major waste and water crimes in South Wales.
{Note: Similar to EMCR RM/MoE role}
Environmental Protection Officer and Professional Technician Roles (Warranted) Gov Agency / Wales, UK / 1995 – 2002 (Team Role)
Permitting, Environmental Protection Officer and Technician.
Red Dragon Consulting works with a team of qualified professionals who can support your specific project.
Emergency Management and Resilience Services.
BC Climate and Agriculture Initiative, Climate Change Adaption Program, Enhancing Wildfire communications. MInistry of Agriculture.
Cariboo Regional District Evacuation Resilience Projects
Central Okanagan Regional District After Action Reviews
City of Burnaby Evacuation Resilience Projects
City of New Westminster Emergency Checklists and Evacuation Plan
City of Penticton Emergency Readiness, Business Continuity and other projects
City of Vernon Emergency Evacuation Plan
City of Quesnel Emergency Evacuation Plan
Clear Sky, Williams Lake First Nation Hazard Risk Vulnerability Assessment; Emergency Plan
Clear Sky, Cariboo Regional District Strategic Emergency Management Review
Clear Sky, Community Futures BC Economic Sector Resilience
Cowichan Valley Regional District Evacuation Resilience Projects
Doctors of B.C. Emergency Management Strategy, Training, and COVID-19 Liaison procedures
Get Set Solutions, City of Nelson Emergency Operations Centre Training and Exercise, Port of Coquitlam Tactical Wildfire Exercise
Grohman Creek Association, Community Preparedness
Fraser Basin Council, Forests Lands Natural Resources Operations and Rural Development –
Investigations in Support of Flood Strategy Development in British Columbia - Informing Flood Emergency Response and Recovery in British Columbia
Ministry of Agriculture Climate Initiative Strengthening Wildfire Preparedness for Agricultural – and Regional District Okanagan Similkameen, Regional District Kootenay Boundary, Regional District East Kootenay (Central Kootenay a potential future partner)
Osoyoos Indian Band Emergency Procedures, Evacuation Plan
Okanagan Indian Band, EOC Director, Evacuation Plan, Emergency Plan, HRVA
Penticton Indian Band, Emergency Procedures, Evacuation Plan and other projects
Regional District Central Kootenay Emergency Evacuation Plan projects isolated communities
Regional District Cowichan Valley Evacuation Plan
Regional District East Kootenay Regional Emergency Operations Exercise
Regional District Kootenay Boundary - Flood Response Plan; Emergency Evacuation Plan, isolated communities; Flood Recovery and assorted projects
Regional District Okanagan Similkameen – After Action Report 2018; Emergency Operations Functional Training; Emergency Operations Exercise and Governance. Major functional exercise with six simultaneous partners EOC's
Simon Fraser University Resilence Project
Thompson-Nicola Regional District After Action Reviews
Town of Creston -Emergency Evacuation Plan
Town of Princeton -Emergency Evacuation Plan, After Action Review
Town of Oliver - Emergency Procedures, Emergency Operations Training; Emergency Operations Exercise, Emergency Evacuation Plan
Upper Similkameen Indian Band, EOC Resilience and Evacuation Plan
Village of New Denver Emergency Plan and Procedures
Water's Edge Engineering District of Peachland – Flood Risk Assessment; Flood Mitigation Plan
Watershed Engineering – Similkameen Flood Risk Assessment Review
Emergency Deployments for flood and wildfire events
Support projects not listed
Technical reviews not listed
The Fraser Basin Council project; Investigations in Support of Flood Strategy Development in British Columbia sought to understand current challenges and opportunities relating to a wide range of flood management issues in BC. The issues include flood governance, hazard and risk assessment, planning, structural and non-structural mitigation, forecasting, emergency response and recovery, and funding and resources. The initiative was supported by funding from the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.
The findings and recommendations from this work are intended to inform the development of flood strategies and operations by different orders of government and other organizations with flood management roles in BC. This includes the Province of British Columbia in its current work to develop a BC Flood Strategy.
The initiative consists of 43 investigations that were carried out by consulting teams as 11 individual but interrelated projects.
Red Dragon Consulting delivered two of these 11 projects - Flood Emergency and Flood Recovery.
You can access the 11 project reports, along with a summary report prepared by FBC, at: