When disaster strikes the rule book often gets tossed out the window.
So says the man who helped Calgary cope through last spring’s catastrophic flooding in southern Alberta.
The Calgary fire chief was in Kelowna Thursday, speaking to more than 80 emergency response officials in the central Okanagan.
“Some of the things we learned during the Calgary event were to throw the book out on a couple of occasions and look at doing things completely differently instead of following normal processes you use in other events in your community. You have to unencumber yourself so you make rapid decisions,” says Bruce Burrell.
Burrell says during the Calgary flooding, it quickly became apparent no matter how much planning and preparation is done things often do not go as anticipated in a disaster.
“They overwhelm and because they overwhelm, you have to manage them differently.”
Flooding from rain swollen rivers in June displaced about 100,000 people and caused damage estimated at more than $5 billion in southern Alberta.
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