The Office of the Fire Commissioner has added helicopter aerial rescue to its already broad emergency response capabilities and will have a trained and certified crew on standby 24 hours a day throughout the spring flood. This announcement was made today by Premier Greg Selinger.
“Building on our strong public safety model, this team will be ready to respond to assist municipalities and citizens in the event of an emergency,” said Selinger. “We hope that all the preparations and advance notice to residents will mean we won’t need to deploy this lifesaving rescue team, but at the same time we want to be ready just in case.”
The Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC) has arranged for specialized training for four of its rescue technicians and four City of Winnipeg fire paramedics. These individuals will be certified under Transport Canada regulations to be deployed on a moment’s notice in the event of an emergency during the spring flood.
“We hope there will not be a great need, but this team will be ready to save lives if they are needed,” said Labour and Immigration Minister Jennifer Howard, minister responsible for the OFC. “In the future, the OFC will be able to expand the team and offer the necessary training to more of its members so that we can broaden the capacity for emergency response.”
The eight team members will continue with their regular day-to-day duties through the flood, but will rotate through a shift as the on-call team member so there is always someone available to respond, Selinger said. In addition, a heavy-lift helicopter has been retained for the exclusive use of the Office of the Fire Commissioner this spring and will be moved to different areas of the province depending on the flood situation so it is ready for immediate response.
This air support adds to the existing OFC capabilities including water rescue, ground search and rescue, building collapse and hazardous materials response and technical response assistance to municipalities.
