NW Ontario Ready For Emergencies
by Scott A. Sumner
Thunder Bay Business
If you were living in Thunder Bay mid November 2008 you experienced a large scale mock disaster response of the magnitude never before experienced in Ontario. At the peak of the exercises some 1500 people were involved coming from across Canada to learn and
perfect their skills.
“ It started November 15 until November 22 and demobilization will happen from November 23 to 28. It is the largest exercise to date in the province. We have 800 to 1000 soldiers here with a total number of people including support staff of 1500. They are from all over the province as well as some people from Manitoba,” said Selma Dsouza Acting Program Manager for Plans and Exercises for Emergency Management Ontario, whose organization has 80- staff members and fall under the Ministry of Community, Safety
and Correctional Services. “ The purpose of the event was to mock a large scale ice storm, so a large scale area disaster to show how the province would react. We had the ice storm in 1998 and we are trying to look at different ways to exercise our interoperability with different groups and Ministry’s including Heavy Urban Search and Rescue.”
“ We picked NW Ontario because we have never done anything like this here before and in terms of the weather we felt this would be the best time of the year to do it. We can also show how very remote communities can react and how prepared we are to help,” said Dsouza. “ So far everything has played out according to how we have planned. There were a few hiccups along the way however we worked together as a team and determined how to work around the problem. So far with the partnerships we have built and ones we will continue to nurture we feel we are well prepared. This operation is an investment of time, staff and resources. You can not put a price tag on it- to make Ontario people know they are safe and prepared. It is
a real life way to test out resources.”
During an all day event where media and other partners involved in the operation we saw first hand several mock events that showcased the emergency staff responses. These include rescuing two people from the frigid Lake Superior waters, a large scale bus car accident
in Shuniah, the work of a portable hospital set up at the TBRHSC parking lot and a building collapse incident at the waterfront.
Liaison officers are located throughout the Province and monitor what was happening in your community. Once the partners such as the Armed Forces are notified they started moving forces into the area by air and road. The whole operation involved many different organizations throughout the Province and beyond. For instance at the mock Bus car accident the Thunder Bay EMS and St John’s Ambulance were called into play.
“ We have 12 paramedics on scene with 4 EMS units, 1 support unit and 1 supervisory unit. Our main role is to get here, triage the patients and then get the critical patients to the hospital first and then the walking wounded. We have asked St John’s Ambulance to come out as well with 2 ambulances and their staff,” said Wayne Gates Manager of Superior EMS. “ It was a highway collision with a school bus and several vehicles, a high impact with lots of people trapped that required extrication with help from the fire department. We have about 30 patients and 15 critical. From the EMS we had 12 paramedics and there were 6 or 7 St John’s Ambulance people here. In the real world these type of accidents happen. It is good to go through this type of training event to help our staff get ready for the real thing. We have had bus crashes before and it can be very challenging for our staff.”
Also on the accident scene was Diana Sustawanko, Manager of St John’s Ambulance. “ I am here to evaluate what my team is doing today. We have about 12 responders helping out EMS in this mock disaster and are pleased to be able to help. We are part of the city of Thunder Bay disaster management program and are always available when needed. We come in play when EMS gives us the call.”
An impressive sight was a complete 56 bed portable hospital set up in the west parking lot of the TBRHSC. The portable set up cost $1.5 million and was fully operational with 95 staff. All the infrastructure came from Toronto by 2 semi tractor trailer units. The staff were deployed from all over the province. You could see the teams actively going through each patients scenario and recommending treatments.
This was the first time we have had regional resources from Ontario and Manitoba working together according to local officials. There was a lot of assistance from Toronto in getting the local teams ready. We have proven we can do this for Thunder Bay and NW Ontario said local officials.
