Severe weather biggest risk to Tiny Township infrastructure: report

Community threats are a well-heeded concern and a risk assessment is a valuable tool, for both residents and the municipality in charge of handling such emergencies.

At the recent committee of the whole meeting in Tiny Township, a presentation by Grace McDonough of the Loomex Group highlighted the various risks faced by the municipality from the perspective of fire services.

“We establish what the risks are in the community,” explained McDonough, “and we do that – a CRA is a very data-driven document – by examining the data from the last five years. We also use professional judgement – both our judgement and the judgement of the fire chief – to arrive at that list of risks. And once we have the risks identified then we start to look at the consequences of those risks.”

Ranked on a risk level scale were 12 identified public safety risks, including the two highest risks identified of severe weather incident (120) and critical infrastructure failure (96), and lowest risks such as fire in commercial occupancy (42), localized flooding (40) and grass/wildland fire (36).

Those ranks were evaluated on likelihood levels (ranging from rare to almost certain) and consequence (from insignificant to catastrophic) in a matrix, and presented with risk treatment plans for each including ways to handle each risk, the financial implications of implementing each, and the expected timeline it can be integrated to fire services duties.

For a severe weather event, the recommended plan included mitigation through public education before, during and after the emergency, as well as sharing that information throughout the community. In the case of a critical infrastructure failure, educating the public on the importance of having a 72-hour emergency kit while continuing to offer applicable services as required was the plan recommendation.

As the final recommendation for next steps, McDonough noted that although the CRA is a five-year event it would be more prudent for the municipality to collect data to update the CRA on an annual basis along with usage for future strategic plan developments for fire services. 

McDonough referenced lightweight construction materials, such as commonly used prefabricated trusses and floors, as higher risks in residential and some commercial homes; items that the Office of the Fire Marshal would be notified by fire services in municipalities, thus being available for CRA data.

“Research has shown that they burn more quickly, that they are less stable,” said McDonough, “(and) I think are going to change the way in which firefighting is delivered in residential, and where those lightweight constructions are used.”

Mayor Dave Evans asked what a critical infrastructure failure would look like in a hypothetical scenario, with McDonough noting that the infrastructure profile including roads, bridges, water and hydro would impact the delivery of fire and other services in the municipality. 

However as Evans was trying to pry further into the infrastructure aspect, McDonough diverted the conversation back to the primary risk threat.

“I think the factor that plays into your critical infrastructure failure is risk #1 – your risk for severe weather – because that certainly could impact road closures, hydro delivery, things like that,” said McDonough. “Because you are in an area that experiences severe weather on a more regular basis, I think the unlikelihood that your critical infrastructure is going to be affected, so that risk is slightly higher.”

Evans thanked McDonough for the report, and added that the Loomex Group’s “support is very essential to us”.

The Loomex Group community risk assessment report, including slideshow presentation, can be viewed on the agenda page on the Township of Tiny website.

Archives of council meetings are available to view on the township’s YouTube channel.