Town of New Canaan completes disaster planning exercise

The Town of New Canaan last week completed a two-day disaster planning exercise, hosted by the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), focused on emergency response and recovery from a simulated Category 3 Hurricane and its aftermath impacting New Canaan. 

The program was conducted by Preparedness Consulting & Training, International (PC&TI) based in California, in partnership with New Canaan’s Emergency Management Director Russ Kimes, Deputy EMD Phil Sheibley, and Fire Chief Albe Bassett.

Participants included the Department heads and staff from across Town government, including the First Selectman, Police, Fire, EMS, Public Works, Animal Control, Health, Human Services, Buildings, Information Technology and CERT.

The participants were tasked with leading the Town’s preparation, response, recovery and communications across 8 modules ranging from 96 hours before storm landfall to 2 weeks after the simulated emergency.  Teams were broken into two groups, each group standing up the various functions of the EOC (Emergency Operations Center), including Command, Operations, Planning, Logistics, Finance and Safety.

An after action report will be prepared with lessons learned and improvements will be compiled by OEM to prepare the various Town Departments to improve our overall preparedness in policy, procedures and equipment.

For further information or questions, contact: Russ Kimes, Director of Emergency Management at 203-594-4101 or russ.kimes@newcanaanct.gov