BANFF – The creation of a joint agency and an advisory committee to manage large-scale emergencies and disasters like floods and fires in the Bow Valley is one step closer to reality.
Banff and Canmore town councils are reviewing bylaws to pave the way for creation of a Bow Valley-wide emergency management advisory committee and an emergency management agency, with representatives from both towns.
Officials stress that activation of a regional emergency management plan and coordination centre won’t result in a loss of municipal autonomy, but could kick in during large-scale disasters like floods, wildfires, earthquakes, catastrophic dam failure, or derailment of a train carrying dangerous goods, for example.
Caitlin Miller, manager of protective services and director of emergency management for the Town of Canmore, said regional activation would occur when the municipal resources are either likely to be overwhelmed and stretched to capacity, or responses and resources needed are the same or similar.
But, she said, it does not automatically mean that a regional response will occur when the municipalities are facing the same hazard.
“Using the 2013 flood event, that would have been a beneficial time to have a regional response and coordination between the two communities and would have benefitted us both,” she said during a recent Canmore committee of the whole meeting.
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the devastating 2013 Alberta floods.
Referred to as the one-in-100-year flood, a perfect storm of rapidly melting alpine snow collided with torrential rainfall of up to 350 millimetres, pelting the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies from June 19-21, triggering widespread flooding that led to 32 states of local emergency, including in Canmore.
While the Banff townsite was not hit nearly as hard as neighbouring Canmore, the swollen Bow River submerged the recreation grounds and parts of the golf course, closed trails and threatened Birch Avenue properties.
In Canmore, more than 220 mm of rain fell in just 36 hours – nearly half of the town’s annual average rainfall – damaging and destroying homes along Cougar Creek and causing the evacuation of about 1,200 people in nearby neighbourhoods.
Neighbouring communities in Exshaw and Lac Des Arcs were also hit hard as waters in the creeks swelled.
At a May 23 governance and finance committee meeting before his retirement, Silvio Adamo, the Town of Banff’s retired fire chief and director of emergency management, said communities will benefit from increased preparedness, resilience, and stronger response by the municipalities during a large-scale emergency.
“Formalizing relationships in a regional emergency management plan helps to ensure that there is greater resident and community protection,” said Adamo.
“By working together to identify regional hazards, risks, and vulnerabilities, administration in both municipalities can be better prepared to mitigate, respond, and recover in the case of a disaster.”
The emergency management directors for both towns hosted a joint council workshop on April 25 to discuss the regional emergency management plan and the need for a regional emergency management bylaw to formalize the governance structure and plan.
The draft bylaws were presented to both councils in May for initial feedback before they return for final council approvals. The regional advisory committee will include members of each municipalities’ municipal emergency advisory committees as well as Canmore’s CAO and Banff’s town manager.
States of local emergency will continue to be declared on a municipal basis, but may come at the recommendation of one of the regional directors of emergency management during a large-scale disaster facing the Bow Valley.
In terms of regional emergency management, Canmore councillors wanted to make sure the bylaws mirror each other and cannot be unilaterally changed.
“I think this is a fantastic initiative,” said Coun. Wade Graham during the May 16 committee of the whole meeting.
Banff Coun. Chip Olver was grateful for the hard work to bring forward a regional emergency management plan given the ever-present threat of disasters such as floods and wildfires.
“It’s just so vital to the ongoing situations that may happen in the valley,” she said at the May 23 governance and finance committee meeting.
Once the bylaws are passed, Adamo said he expects the first meeting of the regional advisory committee would occur in the fall.
“We would then continue that annually at a minimum,” he said.
