The Town of Athabasca and Athabasca County were awarded the inaugural Emergency Management Achievement Award for their leadership and service during last May’s Wabasca wildfire evacuations.
The Alberta Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) recognized county director of emergency services Ron Jackson and town Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Josh Pyrcz at the Alberta Emergency Management Summit in Calgary on Nov. 30.
“This is in recognition of the leadership you both displayed when you led your respective organizations through the challenges presented during the wildfires that threatened your communities this summer,” wrote AEMA acting managing director Shane Schreiber.
The municipalities were two of the award’s initial recipients. The award was given to communities, individuals and organizations for their outstanding service in emergency management and is intended to promote and encourage community pride, build capacity and develop resilience.
“In essence, the award recognizes the amazing team of people who facilitated the (emergency reception) centre,” Jackson noted, “from the provincial field officers to the county staff, community volunteers and community groups, but most significantly, the county FCSS staff led by Debbie Wood. Without the support of everyone involved, responding to an event of this magnitude would be unmanageable.”
“This award really was a team effort,” Pyrcz added. “It was a combination of the staff at the town and the county working hand-in-hand. It just shows you that this town and this county in the province of Alberta have a great collaborative relationship and we continue to build on it when we see adversity such as this.”
Almost 4,000 people were evacuated from Wabasca last spring when wildfires swept through the region.
Between May 23-27, Athabasca County operated an emergency reception centre at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex, where staff and volunteers checked in evacuees, set up accommodations, served meals and ensured all their needs were met.
Meanwhile, the town housed pets and maintained security at the reception centre and in community.
“The town really played a supporting role,” Pyrcz explained. “Our community peace officer (CPO) was there for over 30 hours straight to help provide security when the first evacuees were arriving; we were able to get in touch with our animal control officer who was in the county, and she was able to stay there for quite some time; we had public works involved in certain capacities; and even our summer students came up to give a break to the animal control (officer) to help walk the dogs and try and keep everybody comfortable.”
Afterwards, Pyrcz said the situation went smoothly and the municipalities feel even more prepared for the next emergency. But, with every experience there are new lessons.
“The biggest (lesson) in this particular one was to ensure the security of the area, because of the event and where it was,” he recalled.
“A lot of our RCMP, if not all, were out in the Wabasca area actually coordinating the evacuations, which left security up to our community peace officer who played a large role with the county’s community peace officer. So, really making sure we know where those security elements are in the town and not in the town are definitely lessons learned to make sure we do that early and often.”
