First ever United Counties-wide joint emergency exercise held in Kemptville
Posted Jul 8, 2010 By Ashley Kulp
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Ashley Kulp, Smiths Falls EMC
Kevin Spencer, UCLG health, safety, emergency planning and accessibility coordinator, helps municipalities work through one of the sessions of the emergency exercise.
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EMC News - When a natural or manmade disaster happens, being prepared can make all the difference.
Ashley Kulp, Smiths Falls EMC
Representatives from United Counties of Leeds and Grenville (UCLG) as well as its separate partners in Brockville, Prescott and Gananoque, above, gathered for the first ever counties-wide joint emergency tabletop exercise held in Kemptville at the North Grenville Municipal Centre on June 30. The exercise provided municipalities with the tools to properly plan for when an emergency occurs.
In order to ensure each municipality knows the process and has the tools in place if an emergency ever occurs, the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville (UCLG) in conjunction with Emergency Management Ontario (EMO) held its first ever counties-wide joint emergency exercise at the North Grenville Municipal Centre June 30. All 10-member municipalities (North Grenville, Edwardsburgh-Cardinal, Merrickville-Wolford, Rideau Lakes, Elizabethtown-Kitley, Athens, Augusta, Leeds and the Thousand Islands, Westport, and Front of Yonge) were represented in the tabletop exercise. In addition, representatives from separate partners Brockville, Prescott and Gananoque were in attendance.
While each individual municipality traditionally holds an emergency tabletop exercise on their own every fall, with this year's municipal election taking place this fall, it was decided to try a counties-wide initiative.
"We've actually been talking about doing this for quite a few years at the county level," explained UCLG health, safety, emergency planning and accessibility coordinator Kevin Spencer while taking a break from the June 30 exercise, which has been in the planning stages since November. "And this would take the weight off the shoulders of the clerks with it being an election year."
"Depending on the outcome today and the feedback we receive, we may look at holding this every two to four years," added UCLG CAO Steven Silver, who stated that some municipalities are looking at going ahead with their own emergency exercise as well as the counties-wide event. "I think that's fantastic."
For the session, the municipalities were organized exactly as they appear on a map, with representatives from police, fire department, public works, planning and development, as well as the clerk, CAO and mayor of each municipality sitting around tables. The day began with a training session in the morning, featuring presentations from EMO, Hydro One Networks, the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
"From a compliance standpoint, every municipality has to do the exercise and the training," stated Spencer, who added that having representatives from all municipalities in one room is beneficial. "It makes it easier to organize everything to have everyone together."
He also noted that it worked well for other agencies, including MNR, police and Leeds and Grenville EMS (Emergency Medical Services). "It helps for efficiency. People from EMS and social services don't have to go to 13 or 14 events, they can just come to one," he explained.
After lunch the real exercise began with three cycles for participants to go through, dealing with the topic of a violent series of cyclonic weather disturbances. Though each municipality had the same disaster occur in their area, depending on where they are situated in the counties, the damage was either more or less severe.
"This (exercise) is to make them realize that things don't just happen in your sandbox," noted Suzanne Carrier, who covers the eastern Ontario region for EMO. "We have experts and resources here today that may help and will give municipalities a visual effect of the amount of people that are involved in an emergency."
Spencer indicated that the topic of weather disturbances is one that is timely with the earthquake from a few weeks ago and the tornado in Midland, Ontario. "This is also a networking opportunity for municipalities. We may have lessened the damage in one community so they could help another one as opposed to everyone dealing with their own emergency," he pointed out.
"We try to make it a bit challenging as well, with for example, an arena roof collapses which is the community's shelter. Now what do you do? It makes them develop a plan B," Silver continued, who was pleased to see so many agencies such as the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit and area conservation agencies participating in the exercise. "...In the real world, these are all the partners we would have to contact depending on the type of emergency."
The first cycle explored at what point in time a municipality should declare an emergency and what are their priorities and the resources they can lend to help with clean up. Cycle two surrounded the recovery programs that needed to be put in place and the extent of the clean up and whether extra help from neighbouring municipalities would be needed. The last cycle of the exercise involved drafting a media release with only pertinent information, to be released by the mayor of each municipality.
"...We can't recreate an emergency, but what we can do is get people to talk," Carrier said.
"It drives home the fact that emergencies, whether manmade or natural, don't stop at municipal borders and we all need to work together," concluded Silver.
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