The Town of Amherstburg will be hosting an emergency preparedness training exercise starting later this week.
From March 14 to March 21, Amherstburg will work in collaboration with the City of Windsor, Windsor Regional Hospital, the Town of Essex, the County of Essex, and provincial and international partners, to simulate a coordinated response to a fictional nuclear event.
This is the first time this type of training exercise will be held in the region, and is aimed to prepare community partners in the event of a nuclear emergency due to the location of the Enrico Fermi 2 Nuclear Generating Station in Michigan.
Those involved in this exercise will be able to test response protocols, strengthen cross-border collaboration, and enhance emergency management skills.
The public does not need to be alarmed, but they may encounter actors engaging with emergency personnel in a simulated emergency environment.
Dan Monk, Deputy Fire Chief with the Town of Amherstburg, says this will allow everyone involved to accurately prepare for this scenario.
"It would never happen within a few hours, it'll happen over a period of days. So a scenario built out this way will allow us to practice a lot of different people, a lot of different agencies, while keeping to a real life timeline so we can practice out how we would actually act with an emergency."
He says the public does not need to be alarmed.
"Residents may see actually plight taking place in which our first responders are responding to various points in our community. There's no cause for alarm. In a real emergency we would notify the public as required."
Monk says this is also a reminder for residents to ensure they have up-to-date potassium iodide (KI) pills.
"Any residents over the last five years within the primary zone may have received those pills. Those pills are coming to an expiration date, we are asking those residents to check those expiration dates to ensure that their pills at home are good. They are available through the Windsor-Essex Health Unit and they're also available through the municipality."
KI pills block the thyroid from absorbing radioactive iodine, which may be released during a nuclear incident. KI pills would help to prevent the development of thyroid cancer in such instances.
During the exercise, some locations will experience temporary service interruptions, and certain sites will be closed to the public.
The Amherstburg Libro Centre will be closed to the public from March 17 to March 19. And Windsor Regional Hospital will be participating in exercises on March 18. Patient care will not be impacted.
