Since the flood that happened in 2011, the City of Estevan and many other municipalities in the southeast have engaged in emergency preparedness training.
Helen Fornwald, who is the safety co-ordinator for the City of Estevan recently held a meeting with various community leaders and representatives to talk about getting everyone up to the Incident Command System (ICS) 100 level.
ICS 100 and 200 are two levels of training regarding emergency preparedness. When a disaster happens like a large-scale flood, all community representatives such as mayors or elected officials need to have the same level of training. This is because if something happens they can co-ordinate and communicate with each other efficiently.
Fornwald has a long history with helping out in during emergency situations and her current position with the city is well suited for her.
“In 1996 I started with Red Cross training and the last eight I have been the safety co-ordinator for Estevan. In 1998 I worked with the American Red Cross in Puerto Rico for three weeks the Hurricane George disaster relief,” said Fornwald.
“During that relief effort that I was a part of I really developed a passion for helping people and making sure local governments and people in general are trained and ready for an actual emergency,” she added.
Fornwald said that in 1996, the city was developing an emergency plan and they met with the Red Cross to get direction on how to best respond in an emergency.
Mayor Roy Ludwig mentioned that during the 2011 flood, the city had a smaller group that at the time was able to meet the demands of an emergency. However since then that group has expanded and everyone is excepted to be at the ICS 200 level by the beginning of 2019.
“As of right now not all communities members who were present during the meeting are at the ICS 100 level,” said Fornwald.
“We hope that everyone will be up to a ICS 100 level by September of 2018 and our goal is to have everyone at the ICS 200 level shortly there after,” she added.
Fornwald believes that getting community representatives up to the ICS 100 standard will make a safer province for everyone in the event of a disaster.
“In a disaster we want everyone to be speaking the same language and using the correct terms so emergency responders can coordinate with each other and make disaster relief efficient,” said Fornwald.
