County reaches emergency management partnership agreement with communities

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on November 2, 2024.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Heath Wright, Regional Manager of Emergency Services for Lethbridge County along side of Mayor of the Town of Picture Butte Cathy Moore, Lethbridge County Reeve Tory Campbell and Town of Coalhurst Mayor Lyndsay Montina, speaks to media about the new Regional Emergency management Partnership Agreement Friday at the Lethbridge County office.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

A new Regional Emergency Management Partnership Agreement was announced by Lethbridge County Friday to enhance readiness and response across the region.

The partnership agreement has been set between the Lethbridge County and the Towns of Coalhurst, Picture Butte, Nobleford and the Village of Barons and it aims to enhance collaborative disaster preparedness and response within the region.

Heath Wright, Regional Manager of Emergency Services for Lethbridge County, said they were excited to announce the new Regional Emergency Management Partnership agreement.

 “The partnership focuses on major events like wildfires, hazard material releases, flooding and other incidents that would threaten the public safety. To provide equal access to specialized and standardized emergency training for municipal staff who need to manage these incidents,” said Wright.

 He said Emergency Management staff would be able to respond to the community where needed during significant incidents.

“The partnership will also help us streamline our process by creating consistent Emergency Management procedures across all communities and next steps for the partnership will include reviewing current emergency process to identify gaps and organizing additional training for Emergency Management staff,” said Wright.

 He said that to have a united front and have the partnership and collaboration is instrumental during what could potentially be some of the worst days of their lives.

 “To have the ability to reach out for resources, labour force or any type of manpower is instrumental to make sure that we all come together, we all have the same training and we’re all talking from the same book,” said Wright.

Tory Campbell, Lethbridge County Reeve, said he was thankful to the partnering municipalities for seeing the value in the agreement.

 “I think from my perspective and that of our council, it was important to try and professionalized the role of director Emergency Management,” said Campbell.

 He said many municipalities this is something that is done off the corner of a desk and it is not always the first priority.

 “This gives us the opportunity to pull some resources, come together and really take this to the next level where we have a subject matter expert to do the planning and to get us prepared,” said Campbell.

 He said he believes that is probably one of the most important aspects of the partnership agreement along with the opportunity to collaborate and work together.

 “Hopefully, maybe this will lead to other opportunities where we can leverage resources, manpower and work together more collaboratively as a region moving forward,” said Campbell.

Cathy Moore, Mayor of the Town of Picture Butte, said she was very proud of the partnering municipalities for coming together for this agreement.

“We’ve always had a mutual aid agreement and when something happens, we come to each other’s side especially in cases of emergencies. This just formalizes it. So, I’m very proud that we can come together under one umbrella,” said Moore.