14-05-2025
Edmonton unveils new disaster intake facility
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Last year, 1,800 evacuees from Wood Buffalo and 2,800 from Jasper tested the concept and functionality of the setup.
'We take great pride in supporting not only our own city itself, but obviously the community around us,' Robar said.
'We had great success in this model last year, in our setup, and now we've kind of made this a an ongoing thing for moving this space location permanently for the for the next five years.'
The building got its first stress test last week as emergency responders juggled a rare three-alarm fire, a huge grass fire in northwestern Edmonton as well as a number of single-vehicle incidents — all in the same window, said Fire Chief David Lazenby.
The REST facility is one part of the city's comprehensive emergency management program.
'Edmonton is prepared,' Lazenby said. 'In these changing times, we're making plans to ensure that should something happen, we're prepared to respond.'
