Friday, June 24th, 2022
Last Friday, Lillooet Tribal Council (LTC) Emergency Management (EM) department hosted a live Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Training Exercise that was available for individuals in the Lillooet area and First Nations communities to take and get hands on experience for how an EOC team functions in an emergency situation.
At the same time, there was also a live Emergency Support Services (ESS) Training Exercise occurring at the same time up T’it’q’et Hall. And this live exercise taught the participants how an Emergency Reception Centre and an ESS Team functions when receiving evacuees, and the proper forms and procedures to follow in an emergency situation.
It was amazing to see all of those participants who came out the the training sessions and have the interest and desire in learning more about how to properly facilitate and operate an EOC and ESS team! They have the motivation to be available and acquired the knowledge to be able to jump into action in emergency situations in the Lillooet area. Last year, it was proven to our area and communities that there was a need for training to be able to properly facilitate an EOC team and have fully functioning ESS teams at Reception Centres. In an emergency situation, there are many individuals, families, and communities who are affected and can be rushed out of there homes in a moments notice, and it is important that as a community we remain united, diligent, and ready to be of service in a moments notice as well.
All together, there was a total of 14 training sessions held, and they include:
- 8 sessions – Emergency Operations Centre (EOC)
- 4 sessions – Emergency Support Services (ESS)
- 2 sessions – Leadership/Policy
These training sessions were hosted and done by the collaboration of Lillooet Tribal Council (LTC), District of Lillooet (DoL), and T’it’q’et. It was great to see the collaboration by these organizations and too see these courses and plans come into fruition.
There are big thanks to go to the Holistic Emergency Preparedness and Response Organization that facilitated these training sessions and brought the expertise of 5 instructors into our community. Thank-you to:
- Marc D’Aquino
- Sheldon Guertin
- Andy Ackerman
- Barbara Morgan
We appreciate the time and effort that each instructor brought into each of these sessions and ensuring that all those who participated were well prepared and acquired the necessary knowledge to fulfill the tasks on each team. We hope to bring them back again and train future participants to be able to handle these emergency situations as well.
Please enjoy the video above, it was the last training session of our EOC/ESS series for 2021/2022.
For more information about Emergency Management, EOC, and/or ESS, please contact our Emergency Management Coordinator, Darryl Adrian, by email: [email protected] or by phone: 250-256-7523
Also remember to join our Voyent Alert system at Lillooet Tribal Council to get updates on emergency information in either of the 6 Northern St’át’imc Communities. For more information or to sign-up please contact Darryl Adrian or Cheyanne Watkinson (Communications Coordinator).