The Pitt Meadows Regional Airport will be the site of many emergency vehicles, flashing lights, and sirens, on Wednesday, Nov. 9 as they undergo their emergency response exercise.
Guy Miller, CAO and general manager for the airport explained that this is something the airport is required to do every three years under Transport Canada regulations.
“The purpose is to test our operational readiness,” said Miller. “It will assist myself, airport staff, and first responders. It’s a wonderful opportunity to work with first responders and talk about any issues that there may be in our emergency response, and allows us to all work together.”
He explained that the entire process is expected to take around four to five hours, although the actual exercise itself is relatively short and should take less than an hour.
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Included in the exercise is simulated smoke and a gathering of emergency vehicles at the Northside Fuel Facility on Apron 5.
Miller said the airport is overdue for an emergency response exercise, with the last one taking place over a year before the pandemic.
“We were slotted to do one during COVID, but was given a pass for obvious reasons.”
So far, these tests of their emergency preparedness have only been for theoretical situations, which Miller hopes is a trend that will continue.
“We have incidents that occur, but nothing that required all first responders to attend,” said Miller. “There have been no large-scale accidents during my time.”
This emergency response exercise is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 9, and will result in slightly higher volumes of traffic through gates 1A, 2A, and 5A.
More information is available by emailing operations specialist Derek Brown at dbrown@flyypk.ca.
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