Alberta needs new operations centre to manage disasters: minister
EDMONTON — Alberta is looking at building a new operations centre to better manage how it responds to disasters such as the Fort McMurray wildfire.
Municipal Affairs Minister Shaye Anderson said the need for a larger and more modern nerve centre is one of the lessons learned from the fire last May that forced more than 80,000 people to flee the area and destroyed 2,400 homes and buildings.
Anderson told a Conference Board of Canada meeting on how communities can be more resilient to natural disasters that government staff did an excellent job, but more preparation is needed for future disasters.
“We realize that we need a bigger, newer provincial operations centre — something with more technology that is up to date and up to speed with what is going on with the world right now,” Anderson said Tuesday. “We are set on a path for that.