On May 26, 2009, from approximately 4pm-7pm, the Steinbach Emergency Operations and Response Teams will be conducting an exercise to test the City of Steinbach’s Emergency Plan and response to a scenario of a tornado touching down in the southeast portion of the city.

“This exercise is an excellent way to practice the deployment of our Emergency Plan and Response Personnel to a large-scale incident spread over a substantial area,” said Emergency Planning Coordinator, Denis Vassart. “It provides an opportunity to practice interaction between the Emergency Services departments on scene and the Emergency Operations Centre, while also testing the Reception Centre and their response to an emergency situation.”

Besides the Emergency Operations Centre team, the following Emergency Response Groups are taking part in the exercise: Steinbach Fire, Kleefeld Fire, La Broquerie Fire, Office of the Fire Commissioner K-9 unit, SERHA Emergency Medical Service Ambulance teams, RCMP, Steinbach Public Works department and Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization. We also have volunteers from SRSS, Biovail, the Steinbach Lions and citizens that live in the area who have volunteered to participate. In all, about 150 people will take part in the exercise.

The exercise covers an area that starts just south of Main Street and Hespeler Street and includes an area east and northward to Herschfeld Road. This includes portions of Aspen Estates, Biovail, and portions of Deerfield Trail, Creekside Drive, Jefferson Street, Abbey Lane, Breezy Bend, High Point Lane, Liska Street and most properties on the north side of Main Street from Life Sciences Parkway to Herschfeld Road as well as a few properties on the south side of Main Street.

This will require the closure of Highway 52 (Main Street) westbound from Herschfeld Road to Hespeler Street North as well as all access to this portion of Highway 52 including the Liska Street and Life Sciences Parkway intersections for the safety of the Emergency Responders working in the area. The westbound traffic from Highway 52 will be diverted via Herschfeld Road North to Loewen Boulevard and west to Steinbach.

The City and Emergency Operations and Response Teams apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and ask for your cooperation and patience. Thank you for your cooperation as we train our Response Teams to help make Steinbach a safer city in which to live.

Any questions or concerns can be directed to Denis Vassart at 392-5996 or e-mail dvassart@steinbach.ca.