field, but the JIBC also offers intensive weekend sessions at its Chilliwack — “rmergercy: asponders, ry, Search dad Rescue

Campus that some consider as gruelling as real searches. closked in disaster suits fristrwteiov Cerionsirates

Every local government in B.C. is mandated to have anemergency (o":nosile), carticincte a rou josci'a off the
management program, with someone responsible for its coordination. in b’oierrorista fialé Ds Donald B. Rix Public
They coordinate the responders who will be called upon in the event of a — simu/atiaa exzrcise Sapoiy oimu!auion
relatively small emergency like a house fire that leaves a family homeless, — di's'gried by th2 Builaiag.

or a larger one such as a flood that forces people out of their homes. Many = “ineveency Management
of these coordinators prepare for this role by completing the Emergency —_“ivision.

Management Certificate Program, comprising twelve courses with nineteen
electives. They learn how to prepare emergency plans, carry out hazard, risk
and vulnerability analyses of their jurisdictions, plan and operate an Emer-
gency Operations Centre, conduct emergency evacuations and all the other
activities needed to restore government services and ensure public safety
during emergencies.

As an important part of its certificate program, the Emergency
Management Division has adapted and developed the Incident Command
System (ICS) which California fire fighters originally devised more than
thirty years ago as a means of avoiding and overcoming the muddles and
cross-communications that can hinder and delay effective responses in
emergencies. Consistently improved and widely adopted by emergency
responders around the world since its first incarnation, ICS has evolved
into a command, control and coordination paradigm for responses to all
kinds of events, from everyday police incidents to terrorism, from street
parades to post-earthquake urban searches, from train derailments to forest
fires causing massive public evacuations.

Under the direction of Murray Day, Director of the Emergency
Management Division, the EMD team has converted the ICS curriculum
into French and integrated simulation technology into the program. Parts
of the program, used by emergency responders across Canada, are available
online or by correspondence, while others are taught in classrooms and in
the Applied Learning Lab at New Westminster.

The backbone of B.C’s Emergency Response Management System,
the JIBC’s version of ICS is rapidly finding acceptance with other Canadian
provinces and jurisdictions. Students across the country, including RCMP
officers, are taking the first level of ICS online. Security personnel in the
House of Commons and Senate are also familiarizing themselves with ICS.
In recognition of the achievement of Day and his team in developing ICS,
they received the JIBC’s 2007 Program of Excellence Award.

In any emergency, the need for reliable communication is para-
mount. The problem in widespread emergencies is that the normal means
of distance communication stop working: telephone lines are knocked
down and cell phones are jammed. There is, however, one reliable stand-by:
short-wave radio transmitted by amateur enthusiasts, the so-called “ham

ee eee eee eee eee ee ree ee rere eee eee eee eee eee ee ee ee eee Creer ere rere errr Te Terr errr Teer ee ee eer ee ee