City of Prince Rupert rolls out new Procedures and Management plan to deal with potential Emergency situations

Emergency Planning was a topic
at Monday's City council session

The topic of how to deal with any potential emergencies in the community received a discussion on Monday evening as Prince Rupert City Council put in place revisions to its previous Emergency planning and outlined how the changes will help to streamline the city's response to any emergency issues.

City Manager Robert Long provided the report to Council that outlined some of the background to the changes in place to the process of how an Emergency Situation would be declared and what support the City of Prince Rupert would provide.

Highlights of his report included the nature of city involvement in that process which involves the use of an Emergency Committee.

In response to an inquiry from Councillor Thorkelson, Mr. Long observed that the committee will meet through the year on an ongoing basis to review procedures, while the actual Emergency program would only be put in motion in the event of an emergency.

Mr. Long also noted that with a number of new staff members recently hired on by the City, the need for some training will be required in the near future to bring everyone up to the standards expected.

Prince Rupert Fire/Rescue Chief
Dave McKenzie has been named the
City's Emergency Planning Manager

On that theme of standards, Mr. Long outlined the nature of involvement from such areas as the Finance Department and City Operations department in the case of an emergency situation.

Towards that goal, a table top exercise is planned for the Fall that will put the Emergency planning to a test and to ensure that City staff members are ready to respond.

Councillor Cunningham offered up some insight into the topic from his work with the Canadian Coast Guard, noting that the Committee structure is one that brings together all the required agencies to deal with emergency situations.

As part of the motion approved on Monday evening, the City announced that Prince Rupert Fire Chief Dave McKenzie will take on the role of the City's Emergency Planning Manager.

You can review Mr. Long's presentation to Council from the City's Video Archive, it starts at the forty one minute mark.



The full bylaw requirements and background information related to the new Emergency Management planning can be found from Monday's Agenda package, the review of information can be examined from pages fifteen to twenty.

For items related to Emergency Services in the Northwest see our archive page here.

Further background information on the topics from Monday's Council Session can be found on our Council Timeline feature.

An overall review of Council discussions can be found on our Council Archive page.