Mock emergency exercise a ‘last check of the box’

By Samantha Johnson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on October 12, 2022.

reporter@medicinehatnews.com

A full-scale emergency exercise was held last Wednesday involving multiple agencies. Over the past couple of years, the community evacuation process in Medicine Hat has been built up, which includes training dedicated individuals to support the evacuation.

“This was our last check of the box to say we have trained our individuals, they know what they are doing, and we are confident the process is working appropriately,” said Merrick Brown, director of emergency management with Fire and Emergency Services. “Overall, that’s been well received.”

Another aspect Brown says they wanted to test was how things run if an incident turns into something much larger than expected.

“We are seeing more severe fires and floods that impact municipalities at a moments notice,” he said. “We wanted to test that process to go big really fast.”

Learning that came through and continues to be improved upon is communication between all responders. Reporting structures often change when an incident transitions to something larger and making that work takes time and practice.

The risk of incidents occurring quickly is increasing, with the tornado and storm in July highlighting the need to be prepared.

“We shouldn’t get comfortable with the fact that we have three days notice to prepare for a major incident,” said Brown. “We need to get out of that mentality and understand that we need to respond now.”

At the end of the exercise last Wednesday, every agency in attendance – including fire services, Methanex and Alberta Health – did an exercise debrief with their teams.

Those notes are rolling in to Brown this week and will start to be dissected in more detail. One-on-one interviews and group discussions on what worked well, or didn’t, will take place next.

A formal report will be written and presented to the Emergency Advisory Committee, a standing committee that is part of council, where the findings will be presented.

The report will drive improvement opportunities, things that need correcting but also those that need to be leverage based on the successes and strengths observed during the exercise.

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