EMO planning unfolding well in M.L.

The City of Meadow Lake emergency measures organization (EMO) is getting even stronger.

In late 2017, a call was put out for volunteers and community groups to get involved in the organizational portion of the strategy. Community Safety Officer Joe Hallahan said the response has been positive thus far.

“We’ve been pretty successful in getting a lot of different community organizations involved in the emergency social services side of the EMO project,” he said. “The Door of Hope, Salvation Army, Saskatchewan Health Authority, some church groups with volunteers, and private citizens.”

He said the volunteers underwent some online training, including the first two levels of a program called Instant Command System (ICS), a standardized procedure for setting up responses in emergency situations. Last Thursday, March 15, there was an emergency social service walkthrough with the Red Cross, including some mock scenarios on how to handle evacuees.  

“It was the most practical training we’ve had thus far, including some tabletop exercises during ICS,” Hallahan said. “It helped us figure out how we would set up a reception centre, and how we would get [people] to the different stakeholders and service providers in that centre.”

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Fire Chief Neil Marsh, who is overseeing the entire project, said some next steps will include more training for the volunteers involved, and a public education component.

“From here we’ll just continue to build,” he said. “We’ve got a working group established. We’ll expand the circle of who is involved. The public education [will focus] on what people can do on their own or as part of the community effort. It’s quite exciting to see it taking shape.”

He said the scenario-based training seemed to help the volunteers a great deal.

“Being able to try it out in a realistic setting, that’s where it all sinks in,” Marsh said.

Marsh added the EMO page on the City of Meadow Lake’s website is a positive resource for all community members.

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath