The last time P.A. Municipal Emergency Plan was used was during the 2016 Husky oil spill (file photo/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Emergency preparedness

City staff complete emergency response training

Nov 29, 2019 | 4:49 PM

As a test emergency alert lit up phones across the country on Wednesday, senior Prince Albert city staff members underwent their own emergency preparedness training.

The special one and half day program, provided by the province, was designed to help the city update its Municipal Emergency Plan. It also featured a mock emergency exercise.

“We do have a pretty good plan that’s tried, tested and true,” City Manager Jim Toye told paNOW.

“Should we come upon some type of event I’m sure that we have the right people around the table to handle any type of situation that might be brought our way. But I think there is some tweaking required after the education process I went through in the last couple days.”

The city has a protocol in place in the case of disasters like flooding, tornados, sustained power outages or even a problem with the bridge.

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In the last five years, the emergency plan was used once, during the Husky Energy spill.

In the event of a major disaster, a city hall boardroom would become the command centre where department heads would meet. A second operations centre is designated near the south end of the city.

Toye said one major takeaway he learned during the recent training session is the city needs to have multiple fully equipped command centre locations.

“That we can go to in case city hall is damaged,” he said. “Say it’s a tornado or whatever it might be, we would have that area fully programmed and ready to go”

Toye said city staff will be reviewing the emergency plan, and incorporating things learned during the training.

The updated plan will be unveiled within the next few months.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom