Orillia is updating its emergency response plan to provide flexibility in its response and its use of personnel during a declared state of emergency.
During times of emergency, the city’s emergency response plan previously had only one level of activation for its emergency operations centre, where all members of the emergency control group are called into the centre. However, city council voted to include two additional levels of activation at a recent meeting.
Orillia Fire Chief Michael Clark explained that, during past emergencies, large numbers of personnel were required to attend the emergency operations centre, but now the city will be able to call only upon the personnel that are needed.
“In the past there was this … huge number that were brought to the room, regardless of the nature of the emergency; now it tends to be more scaled down and more specific to the nature of the emergency,” Clark explained.
A wide variety of emergencies, whether related to natural events, infrastructure failures, civil emergencies or other factors, may lead to activation of the emergency operation centre.
The three new levels of activation for the emergency operation centre are as follows:
- Enhanced notification, where emergency control group members are advised that there may be an emergency, and to prepare to come to the centre;
- Partial notification, where only the required members are called to the centre to address the emergency;
- Full notification, where all members are required to attend the centre.
“Typically, if you would have a full notification it would be the senior leadership team, myself … and the mayor, and that's it, so it's a much more reduced number,” Clark said. “Depending on the nature of the emergency, they would ask for additional people.”
Changes are also set for the city’s emergency response program committee, which oversees local emergency response.
Currently, the committee consists of 15 representatives from the city, health unit, and emergency service providers, but city council voted to reduce that number to six individuals – including the city CAO, the mayor, the fire chief, and three senior city staff members – which is more “suitable to the scope of the committee,” city staff stated in a report.
The city will also implement the province's Incident Management System, an internationally recognized system of organizing resources for emergency management, into the language of its emergency response plan.
The city has already used the incident management system in annual training required under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.
