{"id":13386,"date":"2025-07-21T13:25:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T20:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/emergencymanagement\/?p=13386"},"modified":"2025-07-21T13:25:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T20:25:26","slug":"introducing-bc-hazard-emergency-icons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/emergencymanagement\/introducing-bc-hazard-emergency-icons\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing B.C.&#8217;s new hazard and emergency icons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Icons, images and graphics are an effective way to communicate information quickly without needing to use, or rely on, text. This is especially true during emergencies, when it\u2019s important that people have access to clear, consistent information so they can take appropriate action and stay safe. To support this, the Province has created a set of hazard and emergency icons, available on the B.C. government website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The free icons are available to First Nations, local governments and emergency management partners to help create a consistent, accessible and recognizable way to inform people about current emergencies and potential hazards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We encourage all communities to adopt a standard visual approach to communicating about hazards in B.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"156\"   data-print-width=\"25\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-1-1024x156.png\" alt=\"A set of icons depicting various hazards, such as avalanche, drought and earthquake.\" class=\"wp-image-13427\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-1-1024x156.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-1-300x46.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-1-768x117.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-1.png 1321w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why standardized icons matter during emergencies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clear communication can save lives. During emergencies, people need to quickly understand the hazards they face. The new icons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provide a <strong>consistent visual language<\/strong> for communicating hazard information<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Help people <strong>quickly recognize hazards<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Support <strong>language accessibility<\/strong>, making critical information easier to understand for people with diverse linguistic backgrounds and literacy levels<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Are <strong>accessible <\/strong>and meet B.C. government standards<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Will be <strong>recognizable and build familiarity<\/strong> as more organizations use them<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>By using these icons, we\u2019re building familiarity with emergency hazards and ensuring more effective communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"160\"   data-print-width=\"25\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-2-1024x160.png\" alt=\"A set of icons depicting various hazards, such as flood, landslide, and power outage. \" class=\"wp-image-13432\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-2-1024x160.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-2-300x47.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-2-768x120.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-2.png 1322w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Who can use these icons<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The icons are designed for use by emergency management and public safety organizations. They are available to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provincial government ministries<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>First Nations and local governments<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Provincial agencies and emergency response partners<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Incorporating these icons into presentations, emergency plans and public materials, results in more effective communication before, during and after emergencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"158\"   data-print-width=\"25\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-3-1024x158.png\" alt=\"A set of icons depicting various hazards, such as tsunami, volcano and wildfire.\" class=\"wp-image-13437\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-3-1024x158.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-3-300x46.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-3-768x118.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/923\/2025\/07\/icon-set-3.png 1319w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How to download and get started<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Download the icons and use them in your emergency communications. The ZIP folder contains icons in colour and black and white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www2.gov.bc.ca\/assets\/gov\/public-safety-and-emergency-services\/emergency-preparedness-response-recovery\/embc\/images\/hazard_icons_for_communicating_during_emergencies.zip\">Hazard and emergency icons for emergency communications (ZIP folder, 3MB)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>For more templates and resources, such as pre-formatted social media packages, visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.gov.bc.ca\/gov\/content\/safety\/emergency-management\/local-emergency-programs\/local-gov-operations#communications\" title=\"\">public and media communications section of the local emergency response operations<\/a> webpage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Icons, images and graphics are an effective way to communicate information quickly without needing to use, or rely on, text. This is especially true during emergencies, when it\u2019s important that people have access to clear, consistent information so they can take appropriate action and stay safe. To support this, the Province has created a set [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":981,"featured_media":13481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-response"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"mfb_rest_fields":["aioseo_notices"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/emergencymanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/emergencymanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/emergencymanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/emergencymanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/981"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/emergencymanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13386"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/emergencymanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13447,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/emergencymanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13386\/revisions\/13447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/emergencymanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/emergencymanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/emergencymanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/emergencymanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}