County and partners test emergency preparedness

By Lethbridge Herald on December 4, 2025.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge County Regional Emergency Management Partnership (REMP) hosted its first annual regional emergency preparedness “tabletop” exercise on Wednesday, to simulate their coordinated response to a large-scale disaster affecting the region. 

The scenario, called “Southern Skyfall” was a damaging summer storm and tornado with a significant impact on life safety, property, and the environment.

The event brought together staff from the County, the Village of Barons, and the Towns of Coalhurst, Nobleford, and Picture Butte. 

Breea Tamminga, Emergency Management Coordinator and Regional Director of Emergency Management said the exercise was designed to help municipal staff work through the logistics of responding to a major emergency. 

“It’s really important that we bring our partners together to do a tabletop so we can start to learn from each other through Emergency Management,” said Tamminga. “We really want to understand when the big incidents happened what our process is going to be and this really allows us to have those conversations.” 

During the exercise, participants reviewed roles, made key decisions, and communicated across jurisdictions to coordinate their actions.

Tamminga said the exercise followed the Incident Command System (ICS), a proven international standard for managing emergency situations, which allows them to “speak the same language.” 

ICS helps ensure that roles are clear, resources are used efficiently, and agencies work together smoothly during a crisis.

“A critical part of keeping our communities safe is practicing how we’d respond when a major emergency does occur,” said Tamminga. “When we train together, we strengthen our ability to act quickly and collaboratively in the moments that matter most.”

She said the exercise was designed to get them thinking about what their priorities are, and what they need to deal with from an Emergency Management perspective. 

“Obviously, life safety of our residents is going to be big no matter where we are within the county or the different jurisdictions and municipalities that we have. So, it’s really important for us to prioritize those,” said Tamminga. 

Cole Beck, chief administrative officer with Lethbridge County said as everybody knows, emergencies do not respect municipal jurisdiction. And therefore, doing tabletop exercises like this allow them to come together, have a coordinated, planned effort and figure out how to work together in those situations. 

“When a disaster occurs, when the resources are overwhelmed, will those departments work well together? What do we do when we need a large-scale evacuation? What do we do when those departments don’t have the resources or the band strength internally to be able to support that response?” said Beck. 

He said the exercise gave them an opportunity to pull that together to see what would happen when those resources are overwhelmed, and how they can come together to support them in an event that far exceeds what they normally would experience in those situations. 

In November 2024, Lethbridge County, the Village of Barons and Towns of Coalhurst, Nobleford and Picture Butte signed on to a Regional Emergency Management Partnership to enhance collaborative disaster preparedness and response in the region.

This collaboration enhances how the region plans for and responds to major emergencies such as severe weather, industrial accidents, widespread power outages, and more. It’s important to note that the REMP does not replace local fire departments or everyday emergency services. Instead, it supports larger-scale coordination when emergencies impact multiple communities.