Delburne council
Minor tweaks are all that’s needed to smooth out Delburne’s emergency preparedness plan, council heard at the May 24 regular meeting.
Roger Gibson, Deputy Director of Emergency Management, provided council with a few suggestions garnered from the recent mock emergency exercise.
Gibson gave council four areas to consider. Those were adding two portable radios that operate on the same channels as surrounding first responders, additional smaller tables for the command centre posts, a software program geared to emergency response, and incident command system forms included in the village’s six emergency grab bags.
More training in the works
Training in emergency triage was one of the areas Delburne Fire Department will pursue following the mock exercise, stated Fire Chief Sherry Marsellus during a visit to council.
While the 14-member fire department does ongoing training once a month, Marsellus felt triage was one area that needed further attention.
“I believe in training the levels above you and the levels below you,” stated Marsellus in order to give members the broadest range of skills and ownership in their training.
So far this year, the department has responded to 55 calls, many of which were fires, up from the 30 to 35 at this time last year.
Marsellus is working on a quote to get additional electrical and air lines installed in the fire hall, including adding an air compressor.
Currently, if the fire trucks sit idle for too long, air leaks out of the air brake system, delaying a truck’s leaving on a call until air pressure rises. Department members start the trucks once a week to build up levels.
Several searches for air leaks have been unsuccessful.
The air lines are attached to the trucks to maintain constant air pressure.
Trucks dollying off
Marsellus expressed concern over trucks parking detached trailer units within the village where they might become an impediment to an emergency response.
With no way to tell who the trailer belongs to or how to contact them if the trailer needs to be moved, Marsellus asked council if there was a way that owners could let the village or fire department know how to reach them if need be. The village has no way to move trailers in the event of an emergency.
