Lakeland College’s Emergency Training Centre (ETC) is building new tools, partnerships and programs to better prepare emergency responders for a rapidly-changing world.
ETC Dean Shawn McKerry said the college is working to become a national leader in hazardous materials training and emergency response to new energy sources. The college has already partnered with Transport Canada and is pushing for a federally supported hub.
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“We’ve been engaged with Transport Canada for the last year and a half,” said McKerry. “We’re talking about how we can better support the transportation of dangerous goods in Canada.”
He said momentum has been growing since the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster more than a decade ago. However, there’s still no public training site dedicated to rail emergencies in Canada.
“There’s been lots of talk about establishing a centre of excellence in dangerous goods’ response, but we’re in the 11th or 12th year since that disaster,” said McKerry, noting Lakeland College is well-positioned for the job.
“Transport Canada came for a tour and really enjoyed what we could offer,” he said. “They thought there would be a great opportunity for a partnership.”
New batteries, new fuel
McKerry also said the college wants to stay ahead of the risks brought on by new vehicle and energy technology, which includes lithium batteries and hydrogen fuel.
“We have not figured out a good way to fight lithium car fires or lithium battery fires. They’re now all over the place,” he said, adding hydrogen presents different problems.
“You can’t see it. It’s got a wicked flammability range.”
He hopes the government will invest in infrastructure that allows the college to safely burn hydrogen on-site.
“Provincial and federal investment could set us up to burn hydrogen here and then start to train people,” he said.
Lakeland is already leading a four-year clean-burning research project, now in its third year, in partnership with Natural Resources Canada and international experts. The goal is to make smoke from diesel and crude oil fires less toxic and more manageable.
“We’re trying to make the black smoke go away,” said McKerry. “We’re taking some additives, adding it to the product and burning it.”
The work could help reduce the toxic load during oil fires and spills.
“We can use it for in-situation burning,” said McKerry. “You just light it on fire and try to burn off as much as you can so you have less to clean up in the ditch afterwards.”
Beyond dangerous goods, Lakeland continues to expand hands-on training infrastructure.
Training for the times
McKerry pointed to recent additions like the truss tower system, vehicle props, and most recently, a confined-space training prop.
“It really feels like you’re underground,” he said. “It did make a few of them uncomfortable, which is kind of the point.”
He said the school is also trying to get a salvaged bomb suit to add to its collection for students to learn from.
Other upgrades include a donated bridge for vehicle training, a new offshore-style platform for rope rescue and three mobile homes for scenario-based fire response, which were donated by local municipalities.
Inside the classroom, the college houses a fully-functioning emergency operations centre to support incident command training. The centre includes ICS 100 to 400 courses, position-specific learning and full municipal simulations.
“We can be running a situation out in our field and have a team back here being the operations team,” said McKerry.
Lakeland is also hoping secure a mobile command unit from the province, which will allow them to simulate emergency coordination in the field.
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