District of Houston

Global conducted a large multi-agency tabletop exercise for the District of Houston, BC. The exercise examined all response aspects of a wildland-urban interface fire. The two-hour session allowed participants to run through and discuss strategies and issues regarding:

• Fire Fighting Response

• Site command

• Emergency Operations Centre activities

• Evacuation

• Emergency Social Services

• Emergency Communications

Participants included representatives from the District of Houston, the Ministry of Forests and Range, the North West Region of the Provincial Emergency Program, local industry, and emergency response agencies.

The exercise met its two key objectives: to enhance the awareness of all response agencies to the importance of a coordinated collective response and to improve the district’s emergency plans and ability to respond in the future to similar events. The value of the exercise was in its ability to allow those attending a chance to review the full response spectrum. The exercise was highly praised as effective and beneficial in the debriefing comments.