North West Mutual Aid presented a registration and inquiry workshop in the seniors’ centre in Paradise Hill April 18.
There were 19 participants, which was an excellent turnout, plus three Red Cross facilitators.
Participants came from as far away as Waterhen, Goodsoil and Meota and there was a large contingency from the RM of Britanna. The discussions centered around the question, “If the community in which you live had to evacuate does your community have a plan in place? Are there people trained in what they need to do?”
Municipal councils are responsible for the safety of the people who elected them to council positions. The EMO co-ordinators and the volunteers recruited to help with disaster planning do need their support. It is very helpful to the volunteers if councils are involved to the extent that they have an idea of what is involved with an evacuation. These workshops help to educate people on all the steps needed to set up an evacuation centre.
There are expenses incurred when something of this nature happens and it is the councils that authorize the expenses and paying the bills so it is incumbent upon them to know the why of it all.
Walter Gobert and Elaine Reeve, mutual aid co-ordinators for the area, co-ordinated the workshop. They also had the mobile command post on display and there were grab and run boxes for folks to look through to get ideas and pages from manuals for people to take so they get some more ideas for their own plan.
May 8 in Meota, North West Mutual Aid is planning another workshop of a similar nature to get involvement in that community. The contact person there is Jackie Code 306-892-4294 or email Elaine Reeve [email protected] or Walter Gobert [email protected]
Weather patterns are changing and we are getting more storms and due to the dry season and with the heavy old grass build up wildfires are on the rise.
Please put this workshop at the top of your to-do list.
