Quote:
Originally Posted by Ford Prefect
I have a little insight into what training first response agencies might have for a situation like this. I have published a national magazine for paramedics in Canada for the last 30 years, and for a period I also published a disaster management journal. Mods can PM me if they want verification of those claims.
All the the first response agencies...fire, EMS and police...would have certainly held training days where they jointly respond to major incidents, so they would have had some form of inter-agency communication and cooperation structure. Not for something of this scale, but they would have at least had a basic structure figured out. That mock training would have likely consisted of both table top scenarios and field simulations.
How complex the scenarios they may have trained for is another story, especially in a small rural community. I was discussing that with a friend who is highly placed with Corrections Services Canada, and the various scenarios they mock train for surprised me. They have plans in place for scenarios I would have never even considered. If any of those events occur they quite literally have guides they can pull off the shelf to go by.
I also know a lady who was part of a team commissioned to write a national pandemic response plan for Canada following the SARS outbreak. It was actually quite fascinating for me to watch and identify parts of that plan going into action back in early and mid-March.
I doubt the level of complexity was very high at the local level in Nova Scotia, but it is beyond imaginable to me that such a plan did not exist at the RCMP provincial level in Nova Scotia. If there wasn’t then that’s a huge fail. Or, as is more likely, there was such a plan, it broke down somewhere in the command hierarchy. I think that’s where the failure was and that’s what has to be identified and rectified for the future.
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This is my feeling. Incident command likely had a lot of information coming in, and I am sure it was changing constantly, from multiple structure fires, to an active shooter response, to the person being dressed as a police officer which adds a layer of complexity that even the most seasoned incident commanders would find challenging. Review the critical incident, find areas to improve upon, and implement the changes.