Wellington North council was the first of Wellington County’s seven municipalities to approve amendments to the county emergency plan.
Community emergency management coordinator Linda Dickson presented the amendments to council at its meeting on June 11 based on a review of the plan and experiences gained from the evacuation of about 200 Sandy Lake residents to Arthur last summer.
In all, nine amendments are being considered, including ways to improve communication during an emergency and dealing with requirements of a host community to provide medical assistance and volunteers.
The amendments cover a range of potential emergencies such as evacuations, flooding and chemical, biological or radiological incidents and are intended to streamline assistance available from the provincial level and county and municipal levels.
“In cases where health emergencies overwhelm the health care system of an affected community or region and it finds it does not have the capacity to respond effectively to the health emergency, the emergency medical assistance team (EMAT) may be requested to help through the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s emergency management branch,” stated one amendment to the county plan.
“The EMAT is a mobile medical field unit that can be deployed anywhere in Ontario with road access to provide: patient isolation in the case of an infectious diseases outbreak; medical support and decontamination in the case of a chemical, biological or radiological incident; and case management and triage of patients in a mass casualties situation.”
If the emergency requires the establishment of an emergency centre the amendments propose to put in place emergency facilities.
“Upon notification from a member municipal emergency control group that a shelter or reception centre is in the process of being set up [it] will report to the member municipal emergency operation centre to provide advice and guidance with respect to the overall management of the shelter,” another amendment states.
“The social services administrator or alternate may take on the role of shelter manager at the request of the head of council or alternatively may appoint a staff person to this role.
“In consultation with the MECG, it will select identified facilities to be used in the emergency response as reception centres or shelters.
“It will work with partner agencies such as Public Health, Red Cross, St. John Ambulance, Salvation Army, Victim Services and service groups to set up, manage and disassemble the evacuation facilities.”
Dickson told council in the case of host communities, municipalities must express their willingness to act as a host community.
“Emergency Management Ontario (EMO) is, through an agreement with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, responsible for emergency preparedness and response services to Aboriginal communities in Ontario,” another amendment states.
“As part of the agreement and when necessary, EMO provides personnel to support Aboriginal communities response activities.
In some instances, municipalities may be requested on an ad hoc basis to provide assistance to these provincial response activities, including sheltering evacuees. Municipalities who agree to accept evacuees are referred to as host communities. They are responsible for preparing appropriate accommodations and ensuring the basic needs of the evacuees on a temporary basis.
“In Wellington, member municipalities may be asked to act as a host community, particularly during the annual flood and forest fire activity season in northern Ontario. The decision to act as a host community is that of a member municipal council in consultation with the County of Wellington.”
That was the case with Wellington North during the Sandy Lake evacuation when council offered to take and house the evacuated residents. Council has indicated its willingness to take on the same role if required.
Dickson said the amendments will go to the other county municipalities for approval and further comment.
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On June 18 Guelph-Eramosa council unanimously approved the nine emergency plan changes, with little comments or questions for Dickson.
