Often, disasters seem unlikely – they always seem to happen elsewhere. At anytime however, in any community, a natural or human-caused disaster may occur. This would result in a large scale, coordinated response. Depending on the nature and scale of the event, the Mayor of the affected municipality (or the Premier of Ontario) may declare an emergency. This would enact the Municipal Emergency Response Plan developed by the affected municipality.

The Municipality of Chatham-Kent has a public Emergency Response Plan which can be viewed as a link on this page.

A printed copy of the plan can be viewed at the Civic Centre, any Municipal Service Centre or Library Branch.

Emergencies can occur within the Municipality of Chatham- Kent, and the most likely are:

• Critical Infrastructure Failure of the Water System
• Tornadoes
• Fog
• Major Structural Fires
• Arson
• Road Transportation Accident
• Hydro Outage
• Floods
• Nutrient Release
• Rail Transportation Accident
• Pandemic

The Community Emergency Management Coordinator for the Municipality of Chatham-Kent can be contacted at 519-360-1998 or at CKems@Chatham-Kent.ca.  The Coordinator may be contacted regarding any questions related to emergencies or emergency management.

In the event of an emergency the Municipality of Chatham-Kent recommends you obtain further information from this web site or by listening to the local radio stations.

For up to date information you may tune into:

CFCO   AM-630

CKSY   FM- 94.3

CKUE   FM- 95.1

When the Emergency Response Plan is activated the Community Control Group is the group which coordinates the municipal activities. In Chatham-Kent members of this group include:
The Mayor,
The Chief Administrative Officer,
The Police Chief,
The Fire Chief,
Emergency Medical Services,
Medical Officer of Health
The Community Emergency Management Coordinator,
The General Manager of Health and Family services,
The General Manager of Corporate Services,
The General Manager of Community and Development Services,
The General Manager of Infrastructure and Engineering Services,
The General Manager of Water and Wastewater,
The CEO of Chatham-Kent Energy.
 
In addition to its coordinating role, the Community Control Group is also there to support the on-scene responders and obtain any resources or equipment as requested by the Emergency Site Manager.

This group meets at the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).
The Centre is equipped with various mapping and communication technologies to ensure the required information for the Community Control Group is available.

At the disaster site, an “Emergency Site Manager/Incident Commander” is in charge of coordinating resources and developing actions to resolve the emergency situation. The Emergency Site Manager is usually the ranking emergency service personnel on the scene (depending on the nature of the emergency) this could be a member of the Chatham-Kent Police or Chatham-Kent Fire Service.

You can also play a part in emergency preparedness by having a 72 hour safety kit for each member of your family. Learn about the potential risks and hazards in your community and make sure everyone in your family knows what to do before, during and after an emergency should disaster strike.
Together we can ensure that The Municipality of Chatham-Kent is a disaster resilient community.