MUST WATCH: Video from Exercise Tempest, the day a 'tornado' touched down in Brampton

BramptonGuardian.com
Sept. 19, 2017
Pam Douglas

The City of Brampton held its largest full-scale emergency exercise to date on Tuesday, Sept. 19, responding to a fake tornado touchdown at the Powerade Centre.

More than 100 volunteers applied injury makeup and some impressive acting skills to help create a realistic atmosphere for multiple emergency responders as they put theory into practice and worked together to deal with the challenges a major disaster poses.

The simulation brought together the city’s Emergency Management Office, Peel Regional Police, Peel Region Paramedics, Brampton firefighters, the Region of Peel, Canadian Red Cross, Salvation Army, Alectra Utilities, William Osler Health System and St. John Ambulance.

Dubbed Exercise Tempest, the centre of the fake destruction was set up in the Powerade Centre parking lot off Kennedy Road, south of Steeles Avenue, with three other sites – Brampton Civic Hospital, the city’s Emergency Operations Centre and an evacuation centre at South Fletcher’s SportsPlex.

“What we’re doing is building partnerships here,” said Rick Bernard of the Brampton Emergency Management Office.

A hazardous materials emergency was also part of the drill, which tested the HAZMAT team.

The simulation was aimed at giving emergency responders practice working with multiple agencies in a realistic setting, according to city officials.

“We’re really trying to promote good practices and build confidence in the event that we do have to respond to something very large in scale, that we are able to work together,” Bernard said.

To watch video of the exercise, click this link: https://youtu.be/5uPrfpj8iZ4