SAR NEW INITIATIVES FUND
Manitoba SAREX 2009 - Operation Remote Response
By Dave Schafer, Manitoba Office of the Fire Commissioner
During the week of February 9, 2009, the Manitoba Office of the Fire Commissioner hosted the largest provincial emergency exercise held to date in Manitoba. The two-day exercise involved multiple agencies, including the police, EMS, search and rescue volunteers and other resources and provincial agencies from across Manitoba and Ontario. Over 150 members of the various response agencies participated in this event.
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The incident crash site.
Photo Credit: Office of the Fire Commissioner |
The exercise location was a remote site approximately 15 km north-east of the small northern community of Waterhen, MB. The scenario involved a light airplane crash into a remote camp that set off a chain of events requiring the response of multiple agencies, including the various specialty response teams within each agency. The primary
objective of the exercise was to promote interagency cooperation and communications under a single Incident Command System model and common set of incident objectives.
The following agencies participated in this year’s winter exercise:
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Manitoba Office of the Fire Commissioner
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Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization
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Waterhen Community Council
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RCMP D – Division - Emergency Response Teams
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Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (C.A.S.A.R.A.)
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Search and Rescue – Manitoba (S.A.R.M.A.N.) Volunteer GSAR Network
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CAN TF – 4 Manitoba USAR Team
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CAN TF – 3 Toronto USAR Team
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Parkland Regional Health Authority – EMS
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Manitoba Hydro
The exercise scenario tested the province’s ability to respond to a major incident in a remote area, including the ability to treat and transport multiple casualties from a remote location. Numerous incidents that engaged the various RCMP D–Division – Emergency Response Teams were imbedded into the exercise scenario. The remoteness of the incident presented new challenges to the responders requiring interagency cooperation and effective communications.
The Waterhen Community Council members were strong supporters and active participants in this exercise. The community hosted many of the exercise observers and facilitators, engaged their local responders in the incident, and ultimately tested the community’s emergency response plan.
Manitoba SAREX 2009 was supported in part by the National Search and Rescue Secretariat’s New Initiatives Fund, to promote inter-agency cooperation and training through provincial exercises. Volunteer responders from the S.A.R.M.A.N. Volunteer GSAR network and other response teams benefited from this valuable opportunity. A big thank you goes out once again to the National Search and Rescue Secretariat for this valuable support.
Dave Schafer is the Manager of Operations – West for the Manitoba Office of the Fire Commissioner. The Office of the Fire Commissioner oversees the Ground and Urban Search & Rescue Networks in Manitoba and is a founding partner in the Search and Rescue - Manitoba “S.A.R.M.A.N” Association.
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