Ontario will spend $2.5 million for municipal Urban Search and Rescue, Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive, and Hazardous Materials teams in six municipalities across the province, including North Bay.
The money will go toward setting up teams with specialized rescue skills to help when people are trapped in collapsed structures, assist with life-saving operations and provide immediate medical assistance to survivors;
It will also provide funding for teams responding to incidents involving the uncontrolled release of chemicals, biological agents, radioactive and nuclear contamination or explosions that cause widespread damage; and enhance response to provincial emergencies and lead educational and training programs to improve emergency response.
North Bay Deputy Fire Chief Greg Saunders says the announcement is great news for North Bay.
"Up to this year, we didn't get funding to maintain the team. Now we'll get $150,000 a year from the province to maintain the training and equipment and on top of that, we'll get paid for our responses.
"We do the training anyway but it will be upgraded to our whole department. There are three different levels of hazmat response and all of our personnel are getting trained to a technician level so we'll be able to basically perform the same functions at an incident as the teams from Toronto or Ottawa can. It's a substantial amount of training.
"It's a real coup for the city because it enhances our ability to manage incidents within the city of North Bay. In the past if there was an incident here, we would be responsible for those costs, now we can do it ourselves."
"When disaster strikes, Ontario families need to have confidence that help is on the way," said Sylvia Jones, Solicitor General. "That's why we're providing communities across the province with funding to respond quickly and effectively to large-scale and complex emergencies. First responders put their lives on the line each and every day to protect us. "
When emergencies happen, local first responders are on the scene and when additional or more technical resources are required, the fire marshal coordinates and activates these specialized teams to assist local authorities.
"We are pleased the government is providing these teams with new and increased funding to help them better protect the communities they serve," said Jon Pegg, Ontario's Fire Marshal and Chief of Emergency Management.
The initiative will support 10 specialized teams in North Bay, Ottawa, Peterborough, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and Windsor.
These emergency response teams are operated by their municipalities and support provincial efforts through an agreement with the Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management.
