Day 6 – Summary

November 22, 2008

Exercise Trillium Response reached its high point today in Northwestern Ontario.

The province’s Emergency Medical Assistance Team (EMAT), a 56-bed field hospital continued to treat patients and provide care to the victims of a major traffic accident that was staged in Shuniah.

The Superior North Emergency Medical Services and St. John Ambulance transported the victims from the accident to the EMAT in Thunder Bay.

Elsewhere in Thunder Bay, rescue efforts went on to extricate 19 people still believed to be trapped under the remains of six collapsed buildings. The Toronto Heavy Urban Search And Rescue Team was joined by the Manitoba Urban Search and Rescue Team in that operation. The rescue is ongoing.

300 additional military personnel also flew into Thunder Bay early this morning to provide further assistance to provincial and municipal authorities. They went door to door to ensure residents were coping with the ongoing power outage.

Starting tomorrow, the exercise will draw down as power is restored to the northwest and the weather continues to improve.

Day 5 - Summary

November 21, 2008

The Canadian Forces used transport aircraft yesterday and today, to bring extra resources to the devastated northwest. The planes carried military material, personnel and the Heavy Urban Search and Rescue Team (HUSAR).

The HUSAR team is needed because of the collapse of buildings in Thunder Bay and will provide technical support to the City’s Fire and Rescue service. The scenario simulates the efforts to search for, and rescue, dozens of people trapped in the structure weakened by heavy snow and freezing rain.

The province’s Emergency Medical Assistance Team also arrived in the city today. It began treating “patients” to help lessen the load for local health facilities overcrowded by the aftermath of the storm.

Day 4 - Summary

November 20, 2008

Today marked another increase in the tempo of exercise Trillium Response with simulated widespread power outages in Thunder Bay and a prolonged cold snap gripping the entire northwest.

In Thunder Bay, local police and members of the Canadian Forces knocked on doors to ensure residents are coping with the storm’s aftermath. They also use the occasion to promote individual and family preparedness and the need for Ontarians to have emergency survival kits that allow them to be self-sufficient for the first three days of a crisis or disaster.

And they might very well need it in the imaginary disaster hitting the area! With power out and heavy snow and a thick coating of ice, all the elements of an even larger crisis are present. In fact, the scenario escalated today with the simulated collapse of a building in Thunder Bay and the local hospital being overwhelmed and asking for provincial assistance.

The military presence to support the province’s response is also growing and more and more resources are being brought to bear to help the people of northwestern Ontario.

Day 3 - Summary

November 19, 2008

The province’s state-of-the-art mobile emergency operations centre (Mobile1) has arrived in Thunder Bay and is serving as the backbone for the emergency information function provided by the city, province, and federal government. It is the first of a series of provincial assets being deployed to support local communities.

In fact, the tempo of exercise Trillium Response increased today with declarations of emergency from the City of Thunder Bay and 17 other municipalities. Widespread power outages are causing health concerns for many residents whose homes have are without heat. In the scenario, the City is looking at providing shelter and warming centre for approximately 20,000 residents.

Thunder Bay's community control group worked with representatives from Emergency Management Ontario, the Canadian Forces, provincial ministries, the Red Cross and Salvation Army, to look at solutions to the ongoing crisis.

Day 2 - Summary

November 18, 2008

Trillium Response heats up just as a cold snap starts gripping northwestern Ontario and more communities play their part in the exercise.

Today, Rocky Bay First Nation convened its community control group to go through a list of questions on the ice storm and its impact on the wellbeing of its residents. An Emergency Management Ontario field officer provided advice to the 12 community members who played out the scenario that included power outages, phone service interruptions and low fuel supplies. The major concern was the set up of heating centres for those without power.

The second municipality to hold a tabletop exercise today, was the Township of Oliver Paipoonge. Another EMO field officer assisted a community control group of 10 to simulate their response to power outages, a massive accident on the highway involving students being trapped in a school bus.

As the impact of the fictional storms that have battered the area grows and becomes even more widespread, help is mobilizing. The Canadian Forces have started to mass units in the region in anticipation of a request by the province for federal assistance.

Day 1 - Summary

November 17, 2008

Putting an exercise like Trillium Response together involves a lot of hard work and great collaboration among representatives from contributing organizations. For a whole year before the start of Trillium Response, Emergency Management Ontario (EMO) and the Canadian Forces were involved in building the story behind the fictitious ice storm.

And in the last few days, experts from EMO, provincial ministries, the Canadian Forces, assisted by OPP technicians, set up the control cell that is the hub of the exercise. The controllers in the cell determine when scenario stories are rolled out and when different participants become involved in the exercise. They can be likened to 50 directors directing 1,500 actors on a stage that includes the whole of northwestern Ontario.

The control cell will be directing the exercise until the evening of November 22. To see its people in action, visit our video library.