Calgary agency stepping up readiness for terror attack

Amid a string of mass casualty incidents across Europe and North America, efforts to prevent them in Calgary will become more visible, the head of the city’s emergency agency said Wednesday.

Reducing the threat of vehicleborne or shooting attacks similar to those seen in Europe, the U.S. and last month in Toronto is one of the concerns identified by the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, as is “recovery from incidents associated with violent homegrown extremism,” states the group’s report.

Agency chief Tom Sampson said concrete and parked vehicle barriers will soon become a more common sight for those attending special events, while monitoring will also be stepped up.

“The climate in Europe and the U.S. has made the response much more aggressive and we have a duty to be prepared and mitigate it when we can,” said Sampson, who made a presentation Wednesday to city officials on the status of Calgary’s emergency preparedness.

“You’ll see a visual police presence and won’t see a not-so-visual police presence … you’ll see a strengthening of our capacity to ward off or separate vehicles from pedestrians.”

While the risk assessment for such events in Canada has remained at a medium level, public expectation for vigilance is now greater, he said.

“Our duty to mitigate has been increased … it’s a new reality,” he said.

But at the same time, authorities will strike a balance in their security efforts to maintain public enjoyment, said Sampson.

“We don’t want to make it look like a demilitarized zone.”

TABLETOP EXERCISES

Officials have been conducting tabletop exercises to simulate their response along with intense exercises to hone them.

A training session conducted May 1 attracted a heartening turnout of participants, exceeding that in many other jurisdictions, said Sampson.

“We had 120 people come out,” he said. “If I had to be in a city to face this, I’d like to be in Calgary.”

He said the city ’s medical system is well-prepared to quickly shift gears in case of a mass casualty event, bloody occurrences in other cities and countries that Calgary authorities have studied closely, said Sampson.

But he admitted there’s little that can be done to prevent a determined attacker.

“We’ve got to be better at this mass casualty thing,” said Sampson.

“Yet the frustrating stuff is the front end where someone chooses to act out on a grievance, real or otherwise, and you’re more reactive.”

Following the deaths of 47 people in the 2013 LacMegantic, Que., train disaster, a constant concern is a hazardous materials derailment in Calgary’s densely populated centre, said Sampson.

“I’m always concerned with what passes through the city, but the risk is extremely low,” he said.

The biggest hazard facing Calgary remains flooding, a threat that has been reduced by 30 per cent since the 2013 deluge that led to 86,000 people being evacuated, Sampson told city council members.

“If we had the same amount of rainfall we had in 2013, we will be flooded unless we have mitigation upstream.”