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City of Vancouver Emergency Plan

1.0 Foreword

This Emergency Plan is intended to serve as a guide for City Council, Board Members and City staff in order to prepare for, and respond to, major emergencies and disasters affecting the City of Vancouver. This Emergency Plan constitutes the plan referenced in the Vancouver Municipal By-Law No. 5654, and Section 6(2) of the Provincial Emergency Program Act.

2.0 Overview

2.1 Introduction

Disasters, both natural and man made, are unpredictable as to time, location, nature and severity. Every municipality is susceptible to disaster. When it occurs, the City can offer leadership, help and information. The City places a high priority on emergency planning so that it can respond efficiently, effectively and economically to any disaster situation.

In preparation for a major emergency or a disaster, this Emergency Plan provides guidelines to City staff responding to such an incident. These guidelines are intended to be working documents that form an integral part of the ongoing planning, training, exercising and testing process in the City's comprehensive emergency planning development.

2.2 What's in This Manual

This Emergency Plan is divided into the following sections:

• Purpose
• Authority and Powers
• Emergency Organization
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Training and Exercising
• Departmental Recovery and Business Resumption

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2.3 How to Use This Manual

The City of Vancouver Emergency Plan should be used in a comprehensive program of planning, training, exercising and testing, and as a reference guide during an emergency or disaster. The Plan is to be used in conjunction with City Departmental emergency and business recovery plans, as well as the City's Emergency Operations Centre Plan.

Section 6.0 provides the user with the roles and responsibilities of city departments, groups and organizations in an executive summary, when responding to a major emergency or a disaster within the City.

2.4 Update Procedure

The City of Vancouver Emergency Plan is updated regularly to reflect new procedures and information. When a section is revised, the sequentially numbered revision shows the issue date, and includes a new table of contents. The Plan is also maintained in an electronic format on the City of Vancouver website for use by all city staff and for the information of the general public. Through the website the Plan can be viewed, printed or downloaded as required.

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3.0 Purpose

The purpose of the City of Vancouver Emergency Plan is to describe a co-ordinated response to a major emergency or disaster, so as to ensure the preservation of life and the protection of property. The overall objectives of the City's emergency plan are to assist victims, restore services, provide accurate information to the public, minimize damage, and provide a return to normal, day-to-day life as soon as possible. This plan also meets the legal requirements set out under Section 6(2) of the Provincial Program Act and Vancouver Municipal By-law 5654.

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4.0 Authority and Powers

4.1 Provincial Emergency Program Act

Sections 8 and 10 of the Provincial Emergency Program Act provide the City with the power to:

• Implement the City's Emergency Plan
• Declare a state of local emergency
• Exercise extraordinary powers
• Extend the declaration of the state of local emergency
• Cancel the declaration of the state of local emergency

4.2 Vancouver Charter

Sections 154, 173, and 191 of the Vancouver Charter provide City Council with specific powers to:

• Declare that an emergency exists and exercise powers necessary to deal effectively with the emergency.
• If those powers are insufficient to cope with such an emergency, have additional powers with respect to the management and disposal of the property and assets of the City conferred on Council by Order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, as necessary for the period of such an emergency.
• Buy and sell to the public fuel and food, and acquire and develop the necessary real property for the purpose.

4.3 City Bylaw No. 5654

According to Bylaw No. 5654, the City Manager, or a person designated by the City Manager, is the Director of Emergency Operations and Recovery for the duration of the emergency or disaster. It is the duty of the Director of Emergency Operations to direct, control and co-ordinate all activities and resources necessary to respond to a major emergency or disaster.

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5.0 Emergency Organization

5.1 Emergency Management Committee

Overall city emergency program direction is provided by a committee comprising the City Manager, the Chief Constable, the General Manager of Fire and Rescue Services, the General Manager of Engineering Services, the General Manager of the Park Board, the Emergency Management office and the Chief Medical Health Officer of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. The City Manager is the chair of the Emergency Management Committee. The City’s Emergency Management office provides support and co-ordination of emergency management program initiatives in the City.

5.2 Director of Emergency Operations

The City Manager, or designate, is the Director of Emergency Operations and Recovery for the City of Vancouver.

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5.3 Emergency Operations Centre (E-Comm)

The Emergency Operations Centre is the City of Vancouver's facility for co-ordinating its response to a major emergency or disaster. In an emergency, the Emergency Operations Centre is staffed by City personnel representing City departments as well as by trained volunteers. The Emergency Operations Centre supports all response activities in the field and provides overall direction to the responders. Specifically it centralizes information about the emergency; co-ordinates emergency response across City departments and with other agencies; identifies critical needs and establishes emergency response priorities; and provides timely information to the public concerning the emergency or disaster.

Location

The Vancouver Emergency Operations Centre is located at 3301 East Pender Street and comprises the following sections:

1. Policy
2. Operations
3. Emergency Public Information Centre (EPIC)
4. Planning and Intelligence
5. Logistics (Aquisitions; Emergency Social Services; Amateur Radio)
6. Administration - Finance

These sections operate under a modified Incident Command System in compliance with Provincially established standards.

Activation

The City's Emergency Operations Centre may be partially or fully activated by any Police or City staff member. This activation can be made whether or not the City's emergency plan has been implemented, and whether or not a state of local or provincial emergency has been declared.

5.4 Department Field Responses

For the duration of an emergency or a disaster, key emergency response departments, including Police, Fire and Rescue, Engineering, Park Board, Corporate Services, Community Services, and Health Authority, will undertake field operations detailed in their individual departmental emergency plans.

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6.0 Roles and Responsibilities

The following sections provide a brief description of the roles and responsibilities of key emergency response departments in preparing for, and responding to, an emergency or disaster in the City of Vancouver. All City departments have emergency plans which are updated regularly.

6.1 Police Department

The role of the Police Department is to protect life and property, prevent crime, detect and apprehend criminals, control vehicle and pedestrian traffic, assist Coroner investigations and direct evacuation where necessary.

6.2 Fire and Rescue Services

The role of Fire and Rescue Services is to provide fire suppression operations, dangerous goods and medical emergency response functions, and rescue operations.

6.3 Engineering Services

The role of Engineering Services is to restore core services such as water, sewer and traffic control as well as key City infrastructure such as roads and bridges.

6.4 Park Board

The role of the Park Board is to provide emergency food, shelter, and basic first aid to victims of the disaster. This is done through a volunteer based Emergency Social Services program.

6.5 Corporate Services

Corporate Services is responsible for providing treasury, accounting, payroll, purchasing and information technology recovery services in support of emergency operations.

6.6 Community Services

The role of the Community Services department is to assist City departments with a co-ordinated assessment of structure and fire damage to buildings. It is also responsible for assessing and co-ordinating environmental and hazardous materials response.

6.7 Health Authority

The role of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority is to co-ordinate emergency health services in the City in the event of an emergency or disaster. These services include: home support, environmental health, continuing care, residential services, community health centres, and community mental health.

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6.8 Emergency Operations Centre

In the event of a major emergency or disaster, City departments will implement their individual departmental emergency plans to respond to the incident in the field. The role of the Emergency Operations Centre is to co-ordinate and support city departments in the field.

The roles and responsibilities of the various sections of the Emergency Operations Centre are as follows:

6.8a Policy Section

The Policy Section is responsible for the overall management of the emergency or disaster. It is the responsibility of the Policy Section to assess the existing disaster situation in the City, define the nature of the emergency and establish broad response priorities.

6.8a Operations Section

The Operations Section provides minute-by-minute support to emergency responders in the field. Representatives from Police, Fire, Engineering, Environmental Protection, Health, Community Services Structural Safety, and Parks (Emergency Social Services) are in contact with staff in the field to ensure they have the information about the emergency or disaster; that requests for supplies, equipment, or personnel are processed; and that there is co-ordination with other involved agencies.

6.8c Logistics Section

This section is comprised of three units, namely the Emergency Social Services Unit, the Acquisition Unit and the Amateur Radio Unit.

Emergency Social Services provides food, clothing, shelter, first aid, and registration and enquiry services to victims of a disaster. It is managed by the Park Board and is largely volunteer based. It includes representatives from the Red Cross, Salvation Army, St. John Ambulance and many other volunteer groups and agencies. Emergency Social Services will activate and staff emergency shelters in designated community centres throughout the city.

The Acquisitions Unit is tasked with locating and acquiring all the necessary personnel, equipment, and material items needed by the city to deal with the disaster.

Amateur Radio services are provided through a non-profit society of the Vancouver Emergency Community Telecommunications Organization at the Emergency Operations Centre. This largely volunteer society provides back-up communications from the Emergency Operations Centre to various city field units, emergency shelters and neighbourhoods in the City of Vancouver.

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6.8d Planning and Intelligence Section

The Planning and Intelligence Section is responsible for gathering, analysing and evaluating information and forwarding recommendations on appropriate response options to the Policy section. This section is responsible for preparing action plans for the Policy section and deals primarily with forward planning based on knowledge of the emergency or disaster.

6.8e Administration and Finance Section

The Administration and Finance Section provides clerical support to the Emergency Operations Centre and tracks all expenses associated with the emergency or disaster.

6.8.f Emergency Public Information Centre

The Emergency Public Information Centre co-ordinates information and warnings to the public, monitors news media, and issues press releases and media reports.

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7.0 Training and Exercises

To prepare City staff to respond to any emergency or disaster from the Emergency Operation's Centre, a comprehensive training program has been designed to ensure city staff and volunteers are able to cope effectively with any emergency or disaster situation. City of Vancouver staff receive training at the Emergency Operations Centre in the following areas: a modified Incident Command System training course; detailed orientations and tours; and comprehensive training with software systems and supporting technology, including Geographic Information Systems.

Individual Emergency Operations Centre component sections engage in tabletop exercises conducted once per year. One City-wide simulation exercise co-ordinating all Emergency Operations Centre sections is held each year. The City participates in exercises hosted by the Regional Emergency Co-ordination Centre and those ssponsored by the Provincial Emergency Program. Individual City departments regularly exercise their departmental plans.

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8.0 Department Recovery and Business Resumption

Departmental recovery and business resumption focuses on procedures which will enable the City to return to day to day operations as soon as possible following an emergency or disaster.

All City departments have a number of tasks to undertake in the days, weeks and months following an emergency or disaster affecting the City. They include:

• initiating cleanup and repair measures
• resuming basic city services
• planning for the restoration of facilities
• co-ordinating
• all city-wide recovery initiatives

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Questions or comments? Contact: emergency.management@vancouver.ca or call 3-1-1 (within Vancouver) or 604.873.7000 (outside Vancouver).

Last modified: Thursday, March 4, 2010
© 2009, City of Vancouver