SARNIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SARNIA OVERVIEW

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SARNIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENTSARNIA OVERVIEW

• Prepared By Cal Gardner

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Community Profile

• The City of Sarnia and its partners have been
  involved in Emergency Planning for well over 50
  years
• Sarnia-Lambtons total population is 126,971
• The City accounts for 73,876
• 118,780 speak English only
• 115 speak French only
• 405 do not understand either official language

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Sarnia Area Critical Infrastructure

• International Bridges
• Two international bridges
• provide second largest truck crossing in Ontario
• the largest volume of dangerous goods
• 2001 ? 1,174,703 trucks
• 2003 ? 1,725,603 trucks

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Sarnia Area Critical Infrastructure

• Pipelines
• 28 major pipelines crossing from the Canadian
  Side to the U.S.
• Pipes range from 6 to 42 in diameter
• It has been estimated that 12 additional bridges
  would be required if the products were to be
  transported by truck

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Sarnia Area Critical Infrastructure (continued)

• Rail Tunnel
• New International Rail Tunnel in 1995
• Accommodates all double stacked containers and
  multi-level carriers
• Cuts transit time by up to 24 hours to the
  mid-western U.S.

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Sarnia Area Critical Infrastructure (continued)

• Local CN Rail Yard
• The largest rail yard handling dangerous goods in
  the Great Lakes Region
• The second largest international rail yard in
  Canada
• Sarnia and the surrounding area have 25 major
  Chemical Plants
• These industries, pipelines, and transportation
  corridors account for 40 of the Chemicals in
  Canada and 80 of the Chemicals in Ontario

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CVECO

• Chemical
• Valley
• Emergency
• Coordinating
• Organization

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The History of CVECO

• On May 6, 1951 an explosion and fire occurred at
  the Butadiene Extracation Unit, Polymer
  Corporation Ltd. The explosion was said to have
  been heard as far away as London and Detroit.
• Polymer Corp., Imperial Oil and Dow Chemical
  Companies along with Sarnia Police and Fire
  Departments formed the Chemical Valley Emergency
  Traffic Control Committee and the Chemical
  Valley Mutual Fire Aid Committee.
• In 1971 these two committees amalgamated to
  become CVECO.
• CVECO has grown to include more than fifty
  government, utilities, industries and business
  groups, in both Ontario and Michigan.
• The original CVECO Plan has been updated and
  extended to cover all of the Chemical Valley ,
  From Sarnia to St. Clair Township.
• Since 1980 , the CAER / CVECO organization holds
  an annual field emergency exercise each year
  known as the Sarnia Area Disaster Simulation

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CAER?

• CAER is an organization that deals with the
  issues arising from a community living close
  proximity to large chemical manufacturing and oil
  refining industries.
• CA stands for Community Awareness -that part of
  the organization which keeps the community
  informed.
• ER stands for Emergency Response - that part
  which brings the city and industry together to
  mitigate emergency response.
• The initials CAER represent one of six
  different Codes of Practice that make up an
  industry program called Responsible Care a
  registered trademark of the Canadian Chemical
  Producers Association and the Chemical
  Manufactures Association in the United States.

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COMMUNITY AWARENESS COMMITTEE (C.A.C.)

• PURPOSE
• To work in conjunction with the CVECO (ER)
  portion.
• To provide an awareness program for the public
  which acquaints them with warning systems,
  evacuation / shelter-in-place procedures,
  response agency capabilities and services.

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CVECO has two specific roles

• NOTIFICATION
• Radio or Telephone
• Series of Codes

• Mutual Aid
• Equipment
• People
• Expertise

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CVECO Emergency Notification (Emergency Site to
Emergency Responders)

• The Sarnia Police Communication Centre is the
  central control for all radio communications.
• Each industry with transmit capabilities are
  assigned separate call letters for
  identification.
• Industries uses the CVECO Radio to provide
  instant notification of emergencies to
  neighbouring industries, Police, Fire, Ambulance
  and Hospitals services using a code system
• Upon receiving a CVECO code, the Sarnia / Point
  Edward Municipal 9-1-1 dispatch notifies Police,
  Fire, Ambulance, Public Works, Transit and U.S.
  9-1-1 centres by radio

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CVECO Emergency Notification (Emergency Site to
Emergency Responders) cont

• The Municipal 9-1-1 dispatch will then notify
  Municipal Emergency Planners, School Boards, and
  Hospital staff by way of pagers. (for all codes)
• Additional notifications would include E.O.C.
  staff and Emergency Reception personnel as
  required
• The caller (Industry) ensures that the dispatcher
  is advised within 10 minutes of the nature of the
  emergency, using the CVECO Radio (or 9-1-1 if no
  radio is available. The Sarnia Police Service
  Communication Center does a radio check with each
  company at 0700 hours each day.
• The CVECO Company completes a CVECO Code
  Notification Checklist and fax it, when they
  initiate any CVECO code supplying all known
  information as soon as reasonably possible.

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NotificationIs a Series of Codes which are
placed over the CVECO Radio System

• Code 5
• Code 6
• Code 7
• Code 8
• Information Code 8
• Code 9
• CODE 9-1 9-2

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CVECO Notification Checklist Provides additional
Information to Emergency Responders
Contact Name Phone Number
Chemical Product Information
Wind Direction Wind Speed Temperature
Direction Of Safe Approach Community
Instructions
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Emergency Communications
Sarnia Mobile Command
Mobile OPS Room
Mobile Radio Room
Sarnia E.O.C.
Sarnia OPS Room
E.O.C. Radio Room
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Road Sgt..

• Sets Point Duty locations after obtaining from
  Comm Centre
• 1. Wind Direction 2. Wind Speed 3. Nature of
  Incident 4. Product Name and UN Number (if
  available)
• Becomes the initial Municipal Emergency Site
  Manager. (to always meet with City Fire Command
  and relay information back to S/Sgt. City Fire
  may assume this role if they are first on scene
  and road Sgt is not present. (Note Safe route is
  required)
• Evaluates need for Evacuation or Containment /
  Shelter-in-place. (After consultation with City
  Fire and Industry.
• Provides information on Media Centre location,
  mutual aid and severity of the situation back to
  S/Sgt.

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CVECO Lockers are pre-placed to provide road
closer equipment keys are on cruiser key chains
Signs are used to re-route traffic away from the
Chemical Sites
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Current PublicEmergency Notification Systems

• Directly From the Sarnia EOC
• TV interruption of most local COGECO CABLE
  channels
• Radio interruption of all three local radio
  stations
• Municipal Emergency Sirens with P.A.
• Recently completed testing with Bell Canada an
  All-in-one-Telephone Civic Notification System
  ClassCo/ E-Mail/ Pager, Cell Phone, Emergency
  Notification System
• More common yet less effective forms of emergency
  Communication to the Community involve door to
  door notification , loud mobile P.A. systems and
  community Webb sites.

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Notification Coverage Area Required

• Currently Radio Sarnia Lambton is the only
  Coverage for this total area including portions
  of the U.S. side.
• Cogeco Cable TV covers the Canadian side.
• In Sarnia, the sirens currently cover the south
  end only- south of Wellington St. In addition
  Sirens cover Corunna, Point Edward and
  Aamjiwnaang.

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Municipal Sirens
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Current PublicEmergency Notification Systems

• Limitations

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Siren Information

• Ten non rotating Sirens
• Set at 126 dBC covering a 1 kilometer
  circumference
• 76 dBC at the fringe of the required area
• The average cost and installation is 30,000
  Canadian for non-rotating sirens
• Sirens can not give specific information about
  the situation and what action should be taken
• P.A. systems are too distorted when mixed with
  road noise
• Generally, the public cannot hear Outdoor Sirens
  when inside
• With Outdoor Alerting Method, the public needs to
  be Preeducated on what to do

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Commercial Radio

• The Emergency Alert Radio System is read live
  from Police HQ during emergencies and is limited
  to times when the radio stations are not staffed.
  (Most Radio Stations go to satellite feed after
  hours) (Low cost)
• A battery-operated radio will work during a
  power outage
• Commercial Radio does not provide continuously
  repeating announcements. Impatient listeners tune
  out or look for other stations for info.
• Listeners may not be listening to the local radio
  stations or they may be sleeping
• Interrupting local Radio stations provides both
  an Alerting Method and a Information Media

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Cable TV

• Not all households are connected to, or watching
  Cogeco Cable. More and more people or going to
  satellite. (Not locally Controlled)
• Cogeco cannot interrupt their digital service
  with emergency announcements
• Cogeco does not provide continuous coverage for
  emergencies. Again, updated information is read
  live from Police HQ.
• TV will not work if there is a power failure in
  the area
• Local cost are low if it is a service provided
  locally. Provides both Alerting Emergency
  Information

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Current Local Telephone Dialers

• Current Telephone call-out systems on the market
  are too slow for rapid large volume calling.
• The availability of accurate 9-1-1 data and
  unlisted numbers is required to enhance the
  system
• High level of administration to maintain the call
  list at the local level without 9-1-1 data
• The 9-1-1 system can be overloaded with incoming
  calls from the public during an emergency
• The telephone network is slowed down due to the
  current speed of the civic notification systems
  (Data moves too slow) (A need for Federal
  Legislation to Control Use)

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ClassCo Alerting Device

• Test in Sarnia in 2003 with the Support of
  Industry Canada.
• Provides Alerting Instructions to the
  community.
• Reaches the Hearing Impaired.
• Faster than current Telephone dialers.
• Provides contact reports.
• Works in power disruption.
• Provides audio Alarm and Voice message in English
  or French.

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Why All Communities Need Emergency Notification
Systems

• Most Emergencies occur at the local level.
• Most Communities could experience one or more of
  the following Tornadoes, Forest Fire, Flooding,
  Chemical Emergency, Nuclear Emergencies,
  Contaminated Water Line, Power Outage, etc.
• The First Part of any Good Plan is how to warn
  the public. (Communications)

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AUGUST 14th 2003 Power Outage
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