ST. PAUL – St. Paul Fire Chief Trevor Kotowich took time to look back on 2022 during the first County of St. Paul council meeting of 2023.
At the Jan. 10 meeting, Kotowich reported on the St. Paul Fire Department’s achievements, which included 33 of its 39 firefighters having now completed their NFPA 1001 Level 2 Standard, and four members completing their NFPA 1001 Level 1 Standard.
The fire training facility located at the County of St. Paul’s Public Works yard also continues to take shape, he said. “It should be mentioned that no municipal tax-dollars have gone into this project.”
He said the fire training facility’s construction was made possible with corporate donations and a provincial grant. Kotowich hopes to ask, “our municipal councils to assist in finally finishing this project so that we can host live-fire training exercises.”
The training facility has been in the works since 2015.
Calls
Kotowich also released the St. Paul Fire Department’s combined call statistics within the County and Town of St. Paul.
According to Kotowich, the fire department had just a little bit over 35 cancelled calls, which happens when another fire department responds to a call, and additional support from the St. Paul Fire Department is not required.
The St. Paul Fire Department also responded to just over 25 calls for assistance by Emergency Medical Services (EMS). In addition, the fire department also responded to around 45 motor vehicle collisions.
Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms continue to be among the types of calls the department responds to, according to Kotowich. The fire department is automatically dispatched when smoke or carbon monoxide alarms are activated in a residence and there is no call-back from the residence.
According to information from Kotowich, the fire department was dispatched to approximately 35 smoke/carbon monoxide alarm calls.
Other calls include about 15 structure fires, 10 utility hazards, about 10 vehicle fires, around 15 wildland fires, and a handful of calls to special rescue and rubbish fire calls.
Region of St. Paul Emergency Management Agency
Kotowich also spoke about the region’s emergency advisory committee, composed of elected officials from the region, including the Towns of Elk Point and St. Paul, the County of St. Paul, and the Summer Village of Horseshoe Bay.
The committee’s role is to advise on the development of emergency plans and programs, and to “exercise any powers that may have been delegated to them,” according to Kotowich.
He also spoke on the Region of St. Paul Emergency Management Agency (REMA), and is essentially “myself as the Director of Emergency Management, and Henry Thomson as the Deputy Director of Emergency Management.”
REMA is legislated under Alberta’s Emergency Act to, “administer the day-to-day functioning of our community emergency plan for the region, use a command-and-control system like an incident command system (ICS), and to provide yearly reports to our advisory committee and elected officials.”
Meanwhile, the Incident Management Team (IMT) comprises “municipal staff from throughout the region that have received training and will fulfil a specific function during a large-scale incident,” said Kotowich.
He said the IMT had learning opportunities in 2022. “I am very pleased with the cooperation of our regional staff, as I know the pressures faced by them don’t always allow for their unimpeded involvement.”
“The Region of St. Paul Emergency Management Agency and plan is only as strong as the support it receives from our staff and public in general,” said Kotowich. “We can only do so much for preparing people to be prepared in times of emergencies.”
Commander Training
Kotowich and Deputy Fire Chief Thomson also completed a variety of training in 2022. “It’s imperative for myself and Henry to have the right training, skills, abilities, and of course to be competent in our roles,” said Kotowich.
“The balance between technical expertise and strategic competencies will continue to be at the forefront for us.”
Alberta Emergency Transition
According to Kotowich, the province will also be transitioning to the National Public Alerting System, also known as Alert Ready. He said the transition will happen on March 1 this year, and “nothing has to be done by the public.”
Emergency Social Services (ESS) Plan
Kotowich also mentioned the St. Paul Fire Department responding to a structure fire at the Desjardins Apartments on Nov. 24, which caused the “entire evacuation of the west buildings.”
“I’m actually not here to talk about the fire department's response,” said Kotowich. “Although it was exceptional... I’m here to talk about what happened after the fire was extinguished.”
Kotowich said with assistance of the Town of St. Paul, the Town’s Action Bus was called in to help transport the displaced residents affected by the fire. Also, within 10 minutes of the fire call, Mergency Social Services (ESS) staff were activated.
The ESS group composed of the St. Paul Regional Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) staff.
Kotowich commended the group for its swift response and attending the Recreation Centre to register and comfort those who were displaced. There were 37 displaced residents, who were registered and housed in area hotels.
ESS Director Lynn Smid then quickly contacted Red Cross, who provided financial assistance and hotels for the displaced residents for 72 hours, explained Kotowich.
“I am sure if you speak to our ESS Director Lynn Smid, she would tell you she wished she could have done things maybe better or differently,” said Kotowich. “The fact remains, that Lynn and her three staff did an absolute remarkable job in ensuring those displaced were accounted for, and temporary shelter was provided.”
He added, “They did an absolutely fantastic job... We will use this incident as a learning opportunity and will continue to support our ESS staff with whatever their needs may be.”
In closing, Kotowich said cooperation between local governments and administration, as well as the public, is vital to ensuring a strong and resilient community emergency management plan.
The St. Paul Fire Department Annual Awards Night is scheduled to take place on Jan. 20 at the St. Paul Recreation Centre. Tickets for the event are $25 each and the event is semi-formal.
