You Are Not Alone

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You Are Not Alone

• Tom Kontra
• A/ADM and Chief

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You Are Not Alone

• Amethyst Sector is home to 34 municipalities,
  more than 65 First Nations and several hamlets in
  Unorganized Areas.
• Most communities have less than 2000 people.
• It is imperative that municipalities work with
  their neighbours, partners, co-operators and
  government agencies to prepare for and respond to
  emergencies.

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Emergency Management Program Development

• Prior to 2002, all communities except one in the
  Amethyst Sector had Emergency Response Plans.
• However, most plans had not been reviewed or
  exercised in the recent pasta common problem
  across Ontario.
• An outdated and unfamiliar plan is a false
  insurance policy.

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Emergency Management Program Development

• In 2002, EMO initiated the development of
  emergency management programs in municipalities.
• Initially, smaller sector communities were
  uncertain about the resources needed to develop a
  program.
• Today, every municipality in Ontario has a
  program in place and 98 are compliant with
  provincial legislation.
• In 2010 the Amethyst Sector was 100 compliant
  with provincial legislation.

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Community Emergency Management Coordinators

• The CEMC is the key link between EMO and the
  community.
• Most CEMCs are municipal administrators or Fire
  Chiefs.
• Familiarity with one another allowed Amethyst
  Sector Advisory Committee of CEMCs to be
  productive from the outset
• CEMCs with extensive emergency management
  experience have been willing to share their
  knowledge.

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Sector Meetings

• Key forum where CEMCs can network with peers,
  ministries, NGOs and the private sector.
• CEMCs have presented on lessons learned from
  their emergencies
• Nipigon mill fire
• Ignace wind storm
• Fort Frances natural gas explosion
• Manitouwadge power outage

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Partners and Cooperators at Sector Meetings

• Presentations at last two meetings
• Salvation Army
• Bell Canada
• Thunder Bay District Health Unit
• Thunder Bay Fire/Rescue
• Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN)
• Ministry of Agriculture, Food Rural Affairs
• Ministry of Natural Resources
• Ministry of Labour
• Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
• Canadian Red Cross
• Hydro One

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Geographic Challenges

• Travel time and costs can impact attendance at
  meetings and training sessions.
• Solution hold sub-sector meetings and training
  workshops in successive days in Thunder Bay,
  Dryden and Fort Frances.
• People can attend and return home the same day.
• Semi-annual sector meetings in Thunder Bay
  maintain networking opportunities and draw
  quality presenters.

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Resource Sharing in Rainy River District (RRD)

• 9 of 10 municipalities in Rainy River District
  are within 90 km of each other.
• Communities have similar risk profiles due to
  weather, railway, Highway 11 and natural gas
  pipeline.
• Provincial servicesEMS, MNR and policingare
  provided by the same offices to all communities.

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Resource Sharing

• CEMCs have agreed to act as alternates for their
  neighbours if required.
• Many communities list their neighbours Emergency
  Operation Centre as their alternate location
  during an emergency.
• Allows for efficient use of human and physical
  resources that are often in short supply in small
  communities.

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Common Training/Exercise

• Nine RRD municipalities train and exercise in a
  common forum annually, hosted by the Township of
  Emo.
• Given the communities similar risk profiles, it
  is reasonable to practice for the same hazards.
• Up to 75 people in attendance.
• Provincial representatives only need to attend
  this forum, instead of 9 individual sessions,
  which may not be practical.

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Common Training/Exercise

• Fort Frances CEMC attends Emo sessions and offers
  ongoing mentoring and assistance to other
  District CEMCs.
• Some other sector communities train and exercise
  with neighbours, in groups of two or three.
• In 2008, 25 of the sector communities
  participated in Exercise Trillium Response, a
  scenario based on a Region wide ice storm.

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Partnerships

• Long time Community Awareness Emergency Response
  (CAER) group in Thunder Bay and area.
• Comprised of members from municipalities, the
  province, NGOs, the private sector and
  educational institutions.
• CAER builds networks, shares information and
  develops tools to address emergency response
  issues.

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Partnerships

• Canadian Red Cross is a partner in this
  conference.
• Provides training to communities and offers
  services during an emergency response.
• Several companies and organizations have led or
  participated in community exercises TransCanada
  PipeLines, CP Rail, Ontario Power Generation,
  Goldcorp Mines and MNR.

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Partnerships

• MNR is a conference partner.
• Sioux Lookout MNR holds annual spring meetings in
  Sioux Lookout and Pickle Lake to share and
  discuss the status of emergency preparations.
• EMO Field Officer works with Minnesota Homeland
  Security and Emergency Management to develop
  cross-border exercises and workshops that can
  benefit communities in the Amethyst Sector.

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Community Volunteers

• Woody Linton, CEMC Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls has
  led the delivery of Basic Emergency Management
  (BEM) courses in Dryden, Emo and Kenora.
• Shares his extensive background in policing and
  emergency management with participants.
• Mo Douglas of Matawa First Nations Management has
  instructed on three BEM for First Nations courses
  and will be sponsoring others soon. The course is
  open to people from First Nations and
  municipalities.

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Response

• Emergencies do happen in Northwestern Ontario.
• In 2007, five of six emergency declarations in
  Ontario occurred in Amethyst Sector.
• Outside assistance often required from neighbours
  or agencies to respond to emergencies.

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Community Emergencies

• Mid-winter fire destroyed a plywood mill in
  Nipigon.
• Severe cold caused problems with suppression and
  water availability.
• Several area fire departments sent personnel and
  equipment to assist.
• Canadian Tire Corporation donated a tractor
  trailer load of bottled water to the community.

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Community Emergencies

• Ignace hit by a severe wind sheer that damaged
  structures and destroyed forest in the east end
  of town.
• Dryden and Sioux Lookout offered fire department
  assistance.
• Hydro One drew human resources and equipment from
  across the region.
• Power completely restored in just over 24 hours.
• MMAH team in community to assess damages.

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Community Emergencies

• Sioux Lookout threatened by a large forest fire.
• Risk of heavy smoke in the community due to a
  weather inversion.
• People with respiratory vulnerabilities evacuated
  to Dryden facilities as a precaution.

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Community Emergencies

• Natural gas explosion in Fort Frances.
• 300 people evacuated from the area.
• Gas left on for 24 hours to provide heat in
  winter until break could be isolated.
• International Falls, Minnesota fire department on
  standby to assist if required.

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Community Emergencies

• Ear Falls brushed by a tornado in summer of 2009.
• Three tourists killed at a camp south of the
  community.
• Fire department responded to the scene to offer
  assistance.

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Photo courtesy of Lon Black
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Photo courtesy of Kevin Everett
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Provincial Resources

• Communities can access outside resources through
  EMO.
• MNR provides aircraft and logistics for
  evacuations, and, sandbags to municipalities and
  First Nations during flood emergencies.

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Provincial Resources

• Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear
  (CBRN) teams across the province.
• Accessed through the Office of the Fire Marshal.
• Provide personnel and equipment to help manage
  hazardous materials emergencies beyond the
  capacity of local fire department.

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Provincial Resources

• Thunder Bay team responded to a highly toxic
  material tractor trailer fire that had shut down
  Highways 11 and 17.
• Team worked with 2 local fire brigades from
  Unorganized Areas to suppress the fire.
• Highways reopened in 12 hours.

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Provincial Resources

• MMAH Provincial Disaster Assessment Team deploys
  to evaluate level of damage in emergencies caused
  by natural events.
• Ministry of the Environment air monitoring
  equipment can provide air quality data in
  emergencies where there has been chemical release
  or smoke.
• Ministry of Community and Social Services can
  assist with the housing and care of evacuees.

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Unorganized Areas

• Account for over 90 of Northern Ontario.
• No local governance to declare an emergency.
• Lack of plans and resources.
• May need to rely on nearby municipalities and the
  province to assist during an emergency.

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Unorganized Areas Assistance

• Hamlet of Savant Lake threatened by forest fire.
• Sioux Lookout offered to host evacuees.
• Worked with MMAH to make arrangements.
• Excellent example of communities helping to
  ensure the welfare of all neighbours.

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Host Communities

• Recently, Greenstone, Thunder Bay and Sioux
  Lookout have hosted First Nations evacuees on
  numerous occasions due to forest fires and
  floods.
• Hosting requires a major community commitment of
  people and resources, including volunteers.
• Despite the work and challenges of hosting most
  communities are willing to do it again.

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Incident Management System

• IMS developed in the United States.
• Adopted by MNR for forest fire management.
• Can result in more efficient response to
  emergencies when used by trained teams.

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Incident Management System

• Training offered in the sector prior to Exercise
  Trillium Response.
• IMS Instructor course will be offered by EMO at
  the conference.
• Introduction and Basic IMS courses will be
  offered in Kenora at the end of next month.

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Summary

• Communities in Northwestern Ontario spend most
  emergency management resources to prepare for
  emergencies they hope will never happen.
• Including co-operators, partners and volunteers
  in preparedness will help ensure players know
  their roles and what is expected of them.
• Formal and informal partnerships have been
  developed to reflect the outside services needed
  during an emergency.

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Summary

• Often difficult to maintain a profile for
  emergency management in the absence of recent
  emergencies.
• However, it is imperative that the program be
  kept current and the community prepared to
  respond to an emergency.
• Easier to defend the cost of a solid program than
  to explain why the community was not prepared
  when disaster struck.