Last week, roughly 40 first responders from across Alberta were in the Olds Fire Hall for a couple of days, practising how to handle emergency situations.
Red Deer County acting director of corporate services Ric Henderson, who helped organize the event, said it was the first time it had been hosted in Olds.
The scenario was a train derailment in town.
I was invited to take part, as a reporter-editor — for the scenario and in real life, to report on it for the paper.
Under the town's emergency planning protocol, the fire hall is the designated emergency operating room centre, should a disaster occur in or near town.
The scene was just like you'd see in a movie or TV show. People everywhere — on the phone, poring over maps and consulting with each other.
But behind all that is a purpose: to make things less chaotic — and safer — when a real emergency occurs, and who can argue with that?
Jen Lutz, the town's community facilitator and deputy director of emergency management for the community, made that point too.
"(It's) all the outside agencies working with our emergency response plan and working in our emergency operating room centre and giving us feedback on those plans so we can continually improve," she said.
"That's really the best part about having it here is that they're testing all our stuff. They're testing our technology, our plans."
It's reassuring to know that local and provincial officials are doing their best to be fully prepared to deal with emergencies safely and efficiently when they occur.
Because they will occur, sooner or later.
