The catastrophic wildfire in Fort McMurray was on just about everybody's mind during the municipality's annual emergency coordination workshop, May 10.
The workshops are done yearly to keep the municipality鈥檚 incident management team on its toes should a real emergency happen. These practice drills work by assigning the team鈥攎ade up of municipal staff鈥� a random emergency and then they must come up with the quickest and safest plan of action.
鈥淲e run these practices every year to make sure things are updated and so we keep learning and learning,鈥� said emergency coordinator Mark Fercho, who is also the town's chief administrative officer.
鈥淲e treat it as if this emergency was really happening because that鈥檚 when you find out if we can really handle these situations or if we鈥檙e missing some key information.鈥�
This year the team had to deal with a mock collision on Highway 16 and Connaught Drive which involved a tanker truck that was carrying explosive materials. Minutes after the mock accident happened, the incident management team got to work activating the emergency coordination centre (ECC)鈥� located on the top floor of the emergency services building.
鈥淟ast year it was a completely different scenario and we never know what we鈥檙e doing until we get here, but basically if there is an accident the fire department and the RCMP get called out, and once they get on site we find out how big the incident is or will be,鈥� said Christine Nadon, the town's communications manager. 鈥淭hen from there the emergency coordinator will decide if we need more help than what is usually available to us, and whether or not we should activate the ECC.鈥�
During an emergency Nadon acts as the incident team鈥檚 information officer.
Due to the severity of the mock accident, Fercho felt the ECC would be appropriate. After he gave the green light, people quickly slid into their roles. Without hesitation, the team began discussing the possibility of evacuations, shelter and resources centres, media and public relations, internal communications, back-up resources, planning and finances.
鈥淭his format doesn鈥檛 change, but the scope of the emergency might change,鈥� said the incident team鈥檚 deputy information officer Angela Franklin. 鈥淭his is a really big situation we have right now, so we鈥檙e using all our resources, but it depends on your incident鈥� you could just have the fire chief responding and doing everybody鈥檚 roles for a small incident.鈥�
Each assigned team member sits at their respective tables completing whatever duties are needed, and about every 15-30 minutes the team meets up around a large table to discuss their next steps.
鈥淭hese practices are all about working out the kinks and developing those internal relationships to understand how things would work, so when you get to the real emergency you鈥檙e not spending time getting to know who does what,鈥� Nadon said. 鈥淲e can just jump right in and start dealing with the situation.鈥�
The incident team had the opportunity to test their emergency preparedness last summer during the Excelsior wildfire, along the shores of Medicine Lake about 15 km southeast of Jasper.听
At the time, fire chief Greg Van Tighem had a closed door meeting with the municipality鈥檚 ECC management team to ensure everyone was on the same page in case an evacuation became necessary.
鈥淧arks was busy responding with the fire, and I could see the plume of smoke coming over Signal Mountain. So we assessed the situation and issued an information alert saying the townsite was safe and not to panic,鈥�听 Nadon said. 鈥淲e did discuss evacuations and we did have a plan in place if things came our way.
鈥淓verything came together and it was reassuring to know all of our practices had paid off鈥� we can pull this off.鈥�
Unlike many other smaller municipalities, Nadon added Jasper also has access to a wealth of resources from the municipality and Parks Canada to CN Rail and the Jasper Healthcare Centre.
As this year鈥檚 practice came to a close, the incident team agreed that although everything went smoothly, they would like to further develop their organizational skills when it comes to paperwork during an emergency and that the ECC should be equipped with at least two laptops and cellphone chargers.
RCMP Sgt. Rick Bidaisee also attended the workshop and applauded the team for their quick actions.
鈥淚鈥檝e been a part of other practices and I鈥檝e been part of real emergencies, but once your heart is in the right place you just start working from there to bring everything together,鈥� he said at the meeting. 鈥淚 thought this was a really good practice.鈥�
While the municipality is confident in their emergency preparedness, Nadon said there is only so much the town can do. She said it鈥檚 also up to residents to do their part by having an emergency plan, a 72-hour emergency kit and a full tank of gas.
鈥淲ildfires are on everyone鈥檚 mind right now so hopefully it will really get people thinking,鈥� Nadon said. 鈥淲e just watched thousands of people have to evacuate Fort McMurray and we鈥檙e hearing from so many of them that they just weren鈥檛 prepared.鈥�
The municipality and Park staff also held a public information night, May 18, about听 Jasper鈥檚 emergency preparedness.
Kayla Byrne听 [email protected]
