Editor:
During my former career as a park warden manager of public safety programs and director of disaster services for Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks, I participated in many tabletop exercises related to emergency response. Developing plans and testing them through tabletop exercises is all part of a professional and responsible organization.
Although tabletop exercises use a specific scenario, the primary reason for an exercise is not to solve a specific emergency situation, but rather to test preparedness and functionality of overhead teams, inter-agency cooperation and communication. Emergencies occur with infinite variety and no tabletop exercise can account for all of them.
The letter in the Jan. 18 edition of the Outlook from former Banff Fire Chief Silvio Adamo seemed to suggest a single data point – the tabletop exercise from 2019 – could be used to imply that the infinite permutations on evacuation scenarios are covered and the results will be good. If I have learned anything from my 35 years of emergency response with Parks Canada, it is that nothing goes according to plan.
The military has a saying that is pertinent: “No plan survives first contact with the enemy”. In this case, the enemy is wildfire. Something else that I learned over the years is it is always best to have as many options and tools possible to respond to the unknown, unplanned or unexpected.
I am unsure what motivated Chief Adamo to suggest giving up the option of using Banff Avenue as an evacuation route would have no impact. Of course, it has an impact. One less tool to resolve an emergency always has an impact. Look no further than the out-of-control fire at the east end of town last spring and what roads and highways were impacted.
If that fire had spread much further it would have precipitated the evacuation of all facilities on Tunnel Mountain as well as the Town. With the Norquay Road the only point of exit. With one to two hours notice. Maybe. Think about that for a minute.
You may love the pedestrian zone, hate it, or be completely neutral. But no one should think that public safety is not part of the equation – it most assuredly is, and needs to be near the top of the list.
Gord Irwin,
Banff
