Lamont County hosts Emergency Response Table Top Exercise

Lamont County hosts Emergency Response Table Top Exercise

Michelle Pinon News Advertiser

Disaster can strike at anytime, anywhere; and to better respond to emergencies the province has developed a new incident command system (ICS).

Lamont County hosted an emergency response mock table top exercise based on the ICS system on Jan. 22 at the Lamont Recreation Centre. Approximately 35 people attended the event and included municipal staff from Lamont County, Town of Lamont, Mundare, Chipman and Andrew in addition to representatives from the RCMP, FCSS, and commercial industry.

Lamont County Regional Fire Chief Dave Zayonce told participants the province has mandated the ICS, which is used throughout North America. The intent is to work together, and Zayonce stressed: “In the end it’s everybody helping everybody.”

Emergency Management Specialist Anne Danielson walked participants through the exercise step by step. She said the exercise “Created a great networking opportunity and many of the participants commented on how beneficial it was to be able to share different experiences and perspectives while working through the table top exercise.”

Lamont County Reeve Dave Diduck commented: “I think the key part is that you have to have an organized response if there is an emergency. And I think historically all the different fire departments from all the different towns all worked together, but this gives them a plan to work from and work with, and it puts everybody on the same page in dealing with an emergency.”

Diduck said the new ICS would take emergency response to a higher level and give all communities access to additional services whether it’s a minor or major emergency. He spoke about a flood the county had a couple of years ago, and how it counted on certain urban municipalities for assistance. While the county didn’t have to utilize any of the town’s facilities, it was nice to have them onboard. “This plan let’s you know what each municipality has available and what they can contribute, how to work from that and how to respond.”

Emergency Management Specialist Anne Danielson led the table top exercise and is photographed with Dave Zayonce, Lamont County Regional Fire Chief on Jan. 22.

Zayonce commented that: “He and participants thought it was a great table top exercise and renewed learning opportunities for those who were conversant with the emergency management process, but equally better, was for those who were not as familiar found it to be a great learning opportunity. All feedback I heard was it was a great first step in our emergency management regionalization process, and all agreed cooperating at that level during a major emergency or disastrous event just made sense.

No one is an island and can’t do it alone, so capitalizing on the wealth of experience from all levels in our region makes perfect sense to minimize the effects of any disastrous situation. Working together is a phenomenal opportunity to foster healthy relationships between agencies, municipalities and the private sector.

Danielson will be compiling a report from the evaluation forms, group notes and some of her own observations, and include positive outcomes of the exercise as well as items noted for follow up from exercise participants and recommendations for the way Lamont County can further enhance their emergency management system.”

By definition, “ICS is a standardized on-site management system designed to enable effective, efficient incident management by integrating a combination of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures and communication within a common structure.”