More than 85 West Interlake residents recently participated in a community evacuation drill, which the council said was successful.
On May 29, residents of the rural municipality (RM) of West Interlake filled the Eriksdale Community Hall to prepare for an emergency. The provincial government mandates the RM to host these events to work on and prepare for future emergency situations. The RM of Woodlands, RM of Coldwell, and RM of Grahamdale also participated.
The drill had participants evacuate from a large-scale forest fire in the RM of Grahamdale. At 6 p.m., volunteers were given a scenario to act out — “act as though you have lost your dog somewhere in the fray of evacuating” — and were then sent to other areas of the centre where they could find the help they needed to locate their dog or deal with whatever their situation was. Every volunteer was given a different scenario to act out, and afterwards, everyone got a hot dog, chips, and a drink.
“Emergency planning is an important part of municipal operations and protective services and also a great way to learn before an evacuation event actually occurs,” said Economic Development Officer Clayton Gibson. “Similar to why we have fire drills in school, so we know the procedure before an event happens.”
He said an evacuation would be necessary in numerous scenarios—flood, fire, and air quality are the main ones in the area.
Representatives from the surrounding municipalities participated in the evacuation drill so the communities could practice collaboration in case it’s needed during an actual emergency.
Drills like this one are completed on an ongoing basis. Nothing has been scheduled yet, but the council is confident more will be coming.
“An event like this really showcases how neighbouring municipalities can work together to achieve a goal,” said RM recreation coordinator, Christina Kallstrom. “[We] have no doubt that if we or any of our neighbours ever have the need to evacuate that we can do so with organization and the knowledge to do it right for our tax payers.”
The RM also thanks Shelley Napier of Napier Emergency Consulting for giving them the right tools to carry out the exercise successfully.
