Several agencies and first responders across Chatham-Kent got together on Thursday to go over their emergency management plan.
CAO Don Shropshire says agencies such as police, fire, and paramedics continue to train on a new incident management system.
The new emergency management system gives the municipality a standard organizational structure for all emergency personnel, facilities, equipment, procedures, and communications.
Shropshire says communities must be ready for disasters and large events when they arise and exercises like this hopefully get everyone on the same page when responding.
"We're dealing with pre-planning and the incident command itself along with what happens after in terms of recovery. So, the key is to make sure everybody has the same common language and understanding of how you work together and that's the important part. You have to work together to make it happen," says Shropshire.
Shropshire says the new system doesn't replace the Emergency Operations Centre and the training for that is separate.
Shropshire says improving communications and coordination are the main focus for the group because without them, responding to a disaster isn't very smooth.
"The biggest single piece of this training is how you get people to work together. In the past, each organization like police, fire, the healthcare systems, worked independently and did their respective training but this is when you bring it together and make sure when there's a crisis everyone is working for the same common purpose," Shropshire says.
Shropshire says the new system gives the municipality the ability to respond to both large and small events from leaky roofs to the plowing match.
"It's not just for a crisis, you can get people working together to respond and they're ready to actually manage an event of any size. Take that to a different level with a major flood or a forest fire or a chemical spill and you still have the agencies so they can work together to make sure things are going to happen effectively when you respond to the event that occurs," says Shropshire.
