gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
An emergency training event is taking place next Wednesday in the Whitla area with numerous agencies participating.
HALO Air Ambulance, Capital Power, Vestas the Whitla wind turbine supplier and maintenance provider, plus the County of Forty Mile Fire Department, Bow Island Fire Department, Bow Island RCMP and Alberta Health Services EMS will all participate.
Emergency training is a key part of a comprehensive safety program for operational sites like Whitla Wind 1, located south of Bow Island, and emergency training exercises help to strengthen preparedness and responsiveness. The training event will involve a simulated onsite emergency that requires a multi-agency response.
The simulated emergency has taken months to plan and organize, said Dylan Yanke of Vestas. An emergency response in a rural environment can be complicated because of the additional time it can take for all supports to arrive on the scene.
Yanke says Vestas’s area of responsibility includes 56 wind turbine locations, each with its own access.
The exercise also helps to evaluate the response from partners like HALO.
“Fostering a collaborative culture of safety is a core value of Capital Power; working together with Vestas and our community partners, like HALO Air Ambulance, is critical to ensuring the ongoing health and safety of our people, partners and neighbours at all power generation facilities,” said Jordan Heavenor, senior manager renewables Capital Power. “Together with Vestas, we’re pleased to jointly support HALO Air Ambulance and provide funding for this crucial exercise at Whitla Wind 1.”
HALO CEO Paul Carolan says safety is fundamental to HALO, and it places a high priority on training. Whitla Wind 1 facility is in the heart of the County of Forty Mile in HALO’s immediate response area.
For operational funding, HALO relies almost exclusively on the donations of community members, businesses, corporations and regional and municipal governments.
