Collective training and All-Hazards Incident Management Teams

Overview

The Alberta Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) supports local authorities with meeting their mandatory exercise requirements through its collective training initiative.

Collective training

While individual training focuses developing individual knowledge, skills, and experience, collective training is the culminating point of a multi-year emergency exercise and training program for an emergency management team.

Collective training can help:

• Confirm the necessary interactions between different elements of an emergency management team;
• Validate the effectiveness of plans, processes, interactions, and equipment;
• Identify gaps in existing plans, processes, interactions, and equipment; and
• Provide members of an emergency management team – in part or full – with the opportunity to perform their roles and responsibilities per a real incident response, through a simulated emergency or disaster scenario exercise.

Block training exercises

AEMA engages qualified individuals in a progressive series of dynamic “block training” exercises that encompasses all processes and interactions involved in an emergency management team’s response to an incident. Confirmation of individual skills and training is imperative prior to participation in block training.

Block training:

• Necessitates individual skills and training qualifications;
• May be a tabletop or functional exercise (i.e., all processes are executed but no real actions take place out of the exercise facility);
• May be a partial or full-scale exercise (i.e., processes are executed, and real actions are simulated outside the exercise facility by participants); and
• Focuses on one component (i.e., people, processes, equipment, or decision-making).

Generally, AEMA’s block training progression is as follows:

• Block 1
  • Day 1 – instructor-led session on ICS Unit Leader roles and responsibilities
  • Day 2 – small group activity wherein participants address a tactical problem and communicate their solutions using appropriate ICS forms
• Block 2
  • Day 1 – dynamic large group exercise wherein participants fill ICS positions to address a tactical problem that requires immediate response and planning, and react to simulated conditions occurring in real-time
  • Day 2 – dynamic large group exercise wherein participants reprise their ICS positions from Day 1 and react to simulated conditions occurring in real-time
• Block 3
  • Day 1 – instructor-led session on the Planning “P”, followed by a large group planning exercise based on a small municipal Type 3 incident wherein participants set up a municipal Incident Command Post
  • Day 2 – dynamic large group exercise wherein participants fill ICS positions to respond to a municipal Type 3 incident that requires execution of pre-determined Incident Action Plan, response to simulated conditions occurring in real-time, and composition of an Incident Action Plan for the next Operational Period
  • Day 3 – dynamic large group exercise wherein participants reprise their ICS positions from Day 2, execute the Incident Action Plan as composed on Day 2, and respond to simulated conditions occurring in real-time

All-Hazards Incident Management Teams

An All-Hazards Incident Management Team (AHIMT) is a comprehensive resource (i.e., a team) to either enhance ongoing operations through provision of infrastructure support, or when requested, transition to an incident management function to include all components/functions of Command and General Staff.

Each AHIMT:

• Includes command and general staff members and support personnel.
• Has statutory authority and/or formal response requirements and responsibilities.
• Has predesignated roles and responsibilities for members (identified and able to be contacted for deployment).
• Is available 24/7/365.

Typical situations where AHIMTs are used include:

• coordination of on-scene operations;
• natural disasters, for example floods and wildfires;
• planned exercises or public events;
• public health emergencies; and
• technological or human caused incidents, for example, public safety, structural, transportation, supply and distribution.

Type 3 AHIMTs

AEMA forms, manages, and deploys Type 3 AHIMTs at the provincial level.

A Type 3 AHIMT is a multi-agency or multi-jurisdictional team deployed to complex incidents that may extend into multiple operational periods and require a written Incident Action Plan. These teams are comprised of designated, trained and experienced personnel who represent multiple disciplines, departments, organizations, agencies and jurisdictions.

Regional AHIMTs in Alberta

There are five provincially funded and trained AHIMTs in Alberta.

• North Central Regional AHIMT (administered from Strathcona County)
• Northeast Regional AHIMT (administered from Cold Lake)
• Northwest Regional AHIMT (administered from High Level)
• Central Regional AHIMT (administered from Red Deer County)
• South Regional AHIMT (administered from Medicine Hat/Lethbridge)