Alberta Emergency Management Agency ‘Alberta - A Province Prepared’

The Agency Critical Event Response Plan Signed into action by Managing Director September 13th 2007

Critical Event Response Plan Aim To ensure a timely and effective Agency response to all critical events to support community and government responders To raise awareness of the services the Agency can offer communities in support of public safety

General Policy Agency policy to over-respond and then scale back as necessary The plan is supported by a Duty Manager and on-call field staff - their duties take precedence over all other tasks The province is divided into 3 regions, each with 1 on-call staff ready to deploy

Scope Critical Event Response Plan Defined criteria for Critical Event and its assessment The right response – quick, efficient and guaranteed Clarity - standby field staff report on-site assessment directly to Duty Manager Shortening of reporting and decision making from field staff to the MD (1 step through Duty Manager) Continued…

Scope Critical Event Response Plan Multi disciplinary approach enabling influence of events at site and MEOC, including: –Providing support to community –Agency evaluation of: Incident severity Community response capacity Required Agency or other GOA, Industry action/resources –Providing real time advice and options to community based emergency managers –Improved accuracy and currency of information to the Duty Manager –Consistent Agency service to all communities –Greater agility in resource provision to communities

Critical Event Criteria Critical Event Response Plan In order to confirm whether Agency response is required, a critical event will be assessed against one or all of the following criteria: Multiple fatalities (5) or Injuries (10+), Any evacuation that cannot be accommodated within the community or where the municipality activates its Municipal Emergency Plan or components thereof Continued…

Critical Event Criteria Critical Event Response Plan Disruption of Critical Community Services i.e. Fire, Police, Hospital, Emergency Social Services, utilities (water treatment, phones, electricity, gas etc), Major Transportation Routes, Emergency Management Systems, 911, emergency warning systems, etc. or the potential disruption of any of the aforementioned Continued…

Critical Event Criteria Critical Event Response Plan Any event where the Community has requested assistance from AEMA, or is likely to request assistance, or where there has been a major deployment of other GOA resources, e.g. Alberta Environment Support Emergency Response Team (ASERT), Dangerous Goods Rail Safety (DGRS), Sustainable Resource Development – Wildfire Protection Division (SRD-WFPD), Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) etc Continued…

Critical Event Criteria Critical Event Response Plan A major incident outside Alberta that may have the potential to involve or affect a large number of Albertans, e.g. earthquake or Tsunami, air crash, repatriation from a foreign land, or an incident where assistance may be requested from the Province A critical, world-wide event that may generate Government or public interest, action, or enquiry, e.g. BC Earthquake, tsunami (SE Asia), international terrorist event (9/11), Katrina Any incident that is beyond the scope or the resources of the Community to provide an adequate response at present or in the immediate future Continued…

Critical Event Criteria Critical Event Response Plan Event with Political Considerations: –Involvement or questions by Members of Cabinet or MLA's regarding the event –Potential problems with current laws, Legislative process or Government Regulations or Codes –Potential for serious Provincial liability –To reassure the public that the Government is responding and providing assistance.

Critical Event Support Critical Event Response Plan A full time duty officer dedicated to this plan in interim Building Agency capacity in operational readiness Creating media monitoring capability

Role of Duty Manager Duty Manager assumes role of Agency manager for each critical event Assesses incident against critical event criteria Deploys field staff if required Ensures Managing Director connected to event Responsible for all measures necessary to assist community in bringing event to conclusion Hands event to GEOC if the event requires provincial coordination

Role of Field Staff Field staff on-call for 7days on rotation On notice to deploy ASAP, but no later than 60 minutes As well as nearest on-call staff, resident field staff (District Officer and/or Fire Safety Officer) may also respond

Role of Field Staff At the event, field staff will: –Rapidly assess the situation –Request resource assistance or augmentation from Duty Manager –Provide advice to community/Industry to positively influence outcome –Ensure a joined-up approach from all GoA representatives –Above all – they are there to connect with you and help!

The value added We will be there Integrated, multi-disciplinary operational response Complete streamlining of system ‘Whole Agency’ approach

Operational Readiness The ‘ARC’ The Agency is creating an Agency Operational Readiness Centre (ARC) This does not replace CIC, but in partnership, builds our own capability to efficiently gather the information we need, providing: –24/7/365 single point of contact –constant monitoring capability provincially, nationally and internationally. –standard operating guidelines and response protocols for all critical events

Operational Concept Agency Readiness Centre Ability to collect, collate, analyze and disseminate information from all sources Ability to track and monitor all Agency responses Ability to track the location of all Senior Agency Managers and field staff

Closing remarks… The road from Wabamun is a well traveled one Never say never…… Getting ‘out there’…!

Questions?

Colin Lloyd Director of Community Programs Alberta Emergency Management Agency (780) – office (780) cell