Re: John W. Smith letter regarding St. Albert Disaster Plan (St. Albert Gazette, June 4). I am always amused when people like Mr. Smith make such dogmatic statements as “Fort McMurray has a bad disaster plan,” and then extending this to apply to the City of St. Albert. The obvious question I ask is, “By what measure does he make that judgment? Does he know something that the rest of us don't know?”
The reason for my reaction to Mr. Smith's letter is that I am in the emergency preparedness business and have been for over 35 years. Even with my background I would not make such a statement without concrete evidence to back it up. For all I know, Mr. Smith could be right but he could just as easily be wrong. To make such statements without backing them up is irresponsible at best.
With regard to our state of preparedness in the Botanical City, I suggest the reader go to the City of St. Albert website to download the excellent Emergency Preparedness Guide. It is chock full of good information that you can implement to take personal responsibility for your safety and that of your family. Personal responsibility is the starting point of good emergency preparedness. It makes the job of community responders in protecting the safety of all of us; especially those who cannot care for themselves.
I sincerely hope that we never have to find out if the City has a good disaster preparedness plan.
Paul Riopel, St. Albert
