By Matt Kelly

Communication key in potential evacuation plans

May 5, 2016 | 6:00 AM

If there ever was a reason to evacuate North Battleford, quick communication would be crucial in keeping residents safe.

A major wildfire is tearing its way through Fort McMurray, Alta. leaving a path of devastation and forcing the 80,000 residents of the city to flee for their safety. But what would happen if something disastrous were to happen in North Battleford like a large wildfire or a train derailment like in Lac-Mégantic, Que. in 2013?

North Battleford Fire Chief and Director of Protective Services Albert Headrick said the city’s Rapid Alert system, which rolled out last October, gives emergency personnel the tools to widely spread the message before a hypothetical evacuation.

“It gives us direct to individual land lines, Yellow Pages for anybody that’s in the Yellow Pages as a business and anybody that has signed up in regards to cell phone, email or text,” Headrick said. “We can get that information to them directly and (provide) the information necessary if an evacuation was required.”

Headrick wasn’t able to provide exact specifics of what would happen during a potential evacuation as it would depend on the reason for the evacuation and the location, but the decisions during such a day would be made by those in the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).

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“Depending on the severity if an evacuation was required, they’d (residents) be given direction in regards to what the Emergency Operations Centre personnel would have decided in regards to what areas had to be evacuated and where they would be evacuated to,” Headrick said. “This is all predetermined in regards to facilities that we have here that can house people or if we require transportation to have them escorted out of town.”

There are different stages in the EOC protocol depending on how severe an incident is, which plays into what information residents will receive in order to stay safe.

“If there’s a total evacuation, you’d be looking at a Stage Three alert. All EOC players would be requested to report to the Emergency Operations Centre. From there an instant action plan would be designed and implemented in regards to the resources that we have and where the individuals, if we needed to do an evacuation, where they’d have to be taken to or transported to,” he added.

The fire department has been as proactive as it can with wildfires by performing cuts around the community as they haven’t been able to perform pre-burns due to the hot and dry weather.

Headrick added they will continue to cut until the weather cools off and the ground moistens.

mkelly@jpbg.ca