City leaders update training in emergency situation simulation

THUNDER BAY — Leaders from the city, emergency response and other agencies are honing their skills in the event of a public emergency.

On Tuesday, leaders from city police, EMS, fire, the regional hospital, and other integral community groups gathered for a province-mandated training session that simulated a heatwave emergency based on a real incident that happened in 1936, when humidex temperatures rose to over 40 C.

The details of the simulation aren't known to the participants beforehand, explained city manager Norm Gale.

"We train for this. We have processes, we have emergency plans. So we're geared up, we use our training, we use our experience, and we react to whatever the specific emergency is."

Gale noted that real experiences have also played a part during the training sessions.

"I can't count how many of these I've been involved in, but it has involved all different types of weather calamities, everything from an ice storm in particular, we've done a number of times.

"Forest fires and urban fires we did last year, and who knows what might come with the heat emergency that we have here in this exercise.

"We have, of course, real experience when it comes to responding to floods, so all types of weather-related calamities."

Each day ends with a debrief, as well as at the end of the exercise as a whole. Gale also noted that outside experts in incident management also observe and provide a report once the training sessions are completed.

Jacob Porter, climate adaptation coordinator for the City of Thunder Bay, noted that while this training exercise is to keep residents safe, it's also for the health of the city as a corporation.

"Of course, people and safety are always the first consideration in any emergency response. We're looking at maintaining proper communication and reducing impacts to infrastructure or property.

"And at the lower level, we are looking at making sure that this is sustainable. Are we having an undue impact on people around us?

"We are maintaining some of the essential services that the municipality and our community partners provide each and every day."

The city is mandated by the province to participate in at least one emergency response training session per year.

Katie Nicholls, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TBnewswatch.com