Widnes Town Centre Evacuation Exercise
The safety of its residents is at the top of the list of priorities at Halton Borough Council.
Rigorous preparation and testing of emergency plans ensures the Council is prepared to respond a diverse range of scenarios, however remote the likelihood of them becoming a reality.
For example on Thursday 12 November 2009 Halton Borough Council Risk & Emergency Planning Division held a table top Evacuation Exercise based on a fictitious gas explosion in Widnes Town Centre on a Saturday in the run up to Christmas.
At the event emergency services and key personnel from the council, considered how they would communicate with shoppers and residents during the evacuation to a safe area.
Communication of the message to the community is the most difficult feature of any emergency response plan and a great deal of study has taken place to establish the most effective forms of communication.
Halton Borough Council has invested in a public address system attached to CCTV cameras in Runcorn and Widnes Town Centres. The public address system enables pre-determined as well as unscripted messages to go out to the public in the event of an emergency.
Planning of the system brought together, the Emergency Services, Council and the business community.
This type of planning forms part of a co-ordinated approach to shelter and evacuation. It ensures a greater understanding amongst responders in the unlikely event that shelter or evacuation of all or part of our town is required.
The event enabled responders to examine current plans and integrate learning points from the exercise into future planning to ensure the continued safety of the community.
The scenario will be used to train additional staff and managers within the authority in emergency response procedures.
For further details please contact Peter Kenny, Halton Borough
Council,
Risk & Emergency Planning Division. Telephone 0151 471 7315 or
via e-mail Peter.kenny@halton.gov.uk