May 5, 2025 • 23 mins
What would you grab if you had just minutes to leave your home?
To kick off Emergency Preparedness Week (May 4–10), emergency management experts Deb Neitz and Dan Marsellus join us to break down the real risks rural communities face—from tornadoes and train derailments to wildfires and hazardous spills—and how to prepare before disaster strikes.
This episode dives into the unique challenges of rural response and recovery, offering practical tips for building a 72-hour kit, understanding fire bans, and staying calm under pressure. Because in an emergency, panic leaves things behind—preparation doesn’t.
Whether you’re checking on neighbours or creating firebreaks, rural readiness starts with all of us.
Learn how to protect what matters most—before it hits the fan.
🎧 Listen now & visit our podcast webpage for links, resources, and to submit your questions.
All news & announcements are current as of May 1, 2025.
Thank you for listening!
Follow Kneehill County on social media for current news and events:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Christine (00:08):
Hello and welcome to episode four of the Kneehill
Scoop, Kneehill County'sofficial podcast.
I am your host, Christine, andI would like to officially
welcome you to the month of May.
Today is May 1st.
There is lots going on in theCounty right now, so buckle up
and I will tell you all about it.
First off, our dust controlprogram is now accepting
(00:29):
applications.
So we talked about this alittle bit in our last podcast,
which was all about roads (notemy shameless plug right there).
So if you want more informationabout it, go ahead and give
that podcast a listen.
But we do have calcium chlorideavailable for residents,
industrial operations,agricultural operations.
If you have a local gravel roadoutside your property, you can
(00:49):
apply to have the calciumchloride, which is $11.50 per
meter.
You have to apply by May 9th oryou can have spec crude applied
and those applications are openuntil June 13th.
Important to note with thecalcium chloride, if you're
paying for two applications,there's one that's done fairly
soon and then one is done in thefall.
But you can also, I believesometime in June we'll have it
(01:11):
on our website you can apply tohave, just like the single
application of calcium chloridethat is $5.75 per meter, and
again, that will be coming outlater, so just check back for
that.
Otherwise coming up, we have ourannual household hazardous
waste roundup.
So this is May 24th, from 10 amto 2 pm and that is at the
Kneehill County Shop Yard.
So yeah, if your garage is, youknow, you've got old cleaners,
(01:33):
you've got old paint cans,you've got old solvents, like
all that kind of stuff justcollecting dust in your shelves,
feel free to bring them on in.
A full list of what we acceptis available on our website.
This is for household wasteonly, so we don't accept
commercial loads.
So yeah, don't be an oldpainty- can Ned.
Make sure you bring in yourhousehold hazardous waste.
We also have our ratepayerevenings coming up.
(01:54):
I did speak about this a littlebit last episode, but make sure
you save the date.
We've got June 12th is inHuxley and June 19th is in
Horseshoe Canyon.
So we really encourage you tojust come on out, have some
supper, have a chat with yourneighbors.
We're going to have all of ourexperts in the same room.
Council will be there so youcan come, have some great
discussions, some conversations,ask your questions and maybe
(02:17):
even win a door prize or two.
Our scholarship program is stillaccepting applications, so you
have until June 30th to applyfor that, and I know we have a
bunch of local grads coming up,so you know it's a perfect time
to be thinking about this.
Get some money to go towardsyour university or your college
in the fall.
And more information on thescholarship is-- you guessed it,
on our website.
(02:38):
We love putting things on ourwebsite.
Our day use areas are nowofficially open so you can go to
Horseshoe Canyon or OrkneyViewpoint.
Take in the view, go for a hike.
Make sure if you are goinghiking in Horseshoe Canyon, it
can get really hot and dry downin the bottom.
Make sure you're taking lots ofwater and just like prepare
before you head down there.
Our campgrounds are opening longweekend in May.
(03:00):
If you want to book a site, youcan head to our website.
It's all done online throughlet's Camp and I'll make sure
that link is on our podcast pageas well.
So kicking off May is the annualEmergency Preparedness Week.
So this is from May 4th to 10th, just like the name says, to
raise public awareness aboutemergencies and how you can
(03:20):
prepare for them.
We always think that stuffnever happens here, but it does.
It's actually surprising howmany emergencies we've had in
Kneehill County.
So, joining me today to talkabout it, I have Deb Neitz and
Dan Marsellus, so thank you forjoining me.
Dan Marsellus (03:34):
Thank you.
Christine (03:35):
So Deb is our Protective Services Manager and
Dan is our Rural Fire Chief, buton top of those positions, they
are also our Director anddeputy director of emergency
management.
So what is emergency managementand why should residents care
about it?
Deb Neitz (03:50):
Simply, emergency management is about preparing
and responding and recoveringand then reviewing and
mitigating any risks.
Christine (03:59):
So what kind of emergencies are we most at risk
for?
Deb Neitz (04:02):
So in the county we look at it through a rural lens.
We have risks that are based ona probability, but what we see
is the impacts are increasing tothe people and property.
That's what we look at whenwe're doing our risk reviews.
So some of the risks that wehave in the county include not
only weather related, liketornadoes or overland flooding.
(04:23):
We also have more like thetraffic.
So we have big trucks, we havebig highways, more of a hazmat
risk, but then we also havetrain derailments, so more on
their like transportation routes
Christine (04:34):
right, and that's not something you really think of
when you think emergency, like Iwouldn't think, oh, a big truck
could cause something, but theydefinitely can't, absolutely
yeah
Dan Marsellus (04:41):
yeah, a few years ago we had a fuel tanker just
out here on highway 21.
We had to close highway,redirect traffic.
I was blocked for a good eighthours.
Then we had mitigation afterthat.
So we're going to do therecovery steps.
Now we're back into preparingfor another incident.
So, we keep this, this circlegoing, so we can look at things
(05:08):
learn from it and make it betterfor everybody else.
Christine (05:09):
Yeah, it never takes a day off preparing for
emergencies, really.
So is there different ways weprepare for, like wildfires
versus floods, versus tornadoes,or is it just just like you
said, we're always like in themiddle of preparing, recovering
Deb Neitz (05:16):
yeah, absolutely there's.
There's an entire cycle with it.
We work closely with the areafire departments as well,
especially when it comes tograss fires, and Dan can
probably talk a little bit moreabout that.
Dan Marsellus (05:25):
Yeah, we do.
The fire departments will getthe first notification.
They're going to come out,they're going to have a look at
it.
We'll do what we call a size up.
We basically look at what wehave.
What do we have coming in?
What can we do?
How are we going to mitigate it?
Once we have that in play, wego.
So last August we had that biggrass fire in the county.
We had four fire departmentscome in A sheer wind.
Wildfire is going to cover landvery quickly.
(05:47):
Vulcan County had one wherethey had to bring in water
bombers.
Wheatland County had one a fewyears ago too, where the rate of
spread was very fast.
You can't get people in frontof it, and the higher the flame
is at the front you're actuallygoing to hurt people.
So we've got to have the righttactics in that's where we take
care of that A tornado.
Basically, what we have to tellpeople is you have to have a go
bag ready.
Make sure you have somethingready for 72 hours.
(06:09):
There's a lot of informationout there.
I won't dive too much into thekit, but have a 72 hour kit
ready and have your importantdocuments with you have your
passport, your medications,anything you need for your pets.
Deb and I, we're also part ofthe Central Regional Hazard
Incident Management Team.
We deployed to Drayton Valleyand what we saw up there was
people left their pets behind,so we've got to take care of
(06:30):
their pets while they're gone.
If you don't take them, theybecome something that we have to
look after, plain and simple.
Christine (06:36):
And because we are rural, we also have the
livestock emergency plan right.
Dan Marsellus (06:40):
You betcha.
Christine (06:41):
And so you kind of touched this a little bit.
But grass fires, especiallywhen it's drier as it has been,
and we do have those crazy windscoming through.
So what can residents do toprevent them?
Dan Marsellus (06:55):
You may notice every spring and fall that
within Nehal County a fire banwill come into play.
There's technically four levelsto it.
One is no fire ban, no alert,no anything.
The first level is a fireadvisory.
We are aware of dryingconditions.
We're aware that we don't haveenough moisture.
With the burn permit processthat we have, we want to make
sure that what you're trying toburn can be mitigated.
Putting the advisory on it'slike okay, hey, be aware.
(07:17):
The next level is restriction.
We don't opt for therestriction level because it
only deals with public lands.
There's not a lot of publiclands here.
We go right to fire ban as thenext level.
At that point all fire activitystops.
Right now.
We are looking at putting on onevery soon.
We're aware of how dry theconditions are out now.
We haven't had a lot ofmoisture.
(07:38):
We are expecting some high heator wind speeds to be increasing
as well.
So we look at a lot ofinformation when we decide to
put this on.
We go to the fire danger mapson the Alberta website.
Alberta wildfire has a lot ofsystems out there where they
monitor the weather for us.
We don't have to spend money onthat.
As a county we can actually tapinto that and everybody in the
(08:01):
public can go to the fire dangermaps and have a look for
themselves.
We look at fine fuel moisturecontent, so that tells us how
dry the grasses are.
That tells us how much we'vegot there.
We look at the initial spreadindex.
So, based on the winds comingin and how dry things are, how
quickly is that fire going tomove?
If these are in the extreme, weput a fire ban on going to move
(08:25):
.
If these are in the extreme, weput a fire ban on If you had a
fire pit over winter.
Fire bans kind of lead into that.
But this is just one extra step.
Check them for heat.
They've been covered, they'vebeen smothered, they've been
under all this nice snow andthey've had a chance to just
insulate with the heat as thesewinds kick up.
We had a couple in the lastcouple weeks here where they
reignited the fire triangle.
We need a fuel source, we needair to feed it and we need fuel.
(08:49):
Well, they have the heat andthe fuel.
All they needed was the air.
So as the winds pick up nowthey've got the air back again
the fire restarts.
So with that, if you canmitigate that by going through,
and if you notice it's hot, takeyour harrows out if you can and
just go around it and get it tomineral earth so you can limit
how far that's going to go andjust contain it in there.
(09:10):
Then we can come in with thetrucks and soak it down and put
it out.
Or if you've got your own watertrailer and all that there,
please take care of it yourself.
Go in there.
You've got the equipment to getinto wherever your burn pits
are at and you can dump water inthere to actually put it out.
But you're actually mitigatingit better that way for us.
When we can't do those kinds ofthings, we need to put the ban
(09:31):
on and slow the chances forthese things to go.
So that's why we have the fireban system.
Christine (09:35):
And it's important to note like during a fire
advisory, you're allowedcampfires still.
Dan Marsellus (09:39):
Yes.
Christine (09:40):
During a fire ban.
You are not.
Dan Marsellus (09:42):
Correct, you can still use propane, right,
anything that has a gas that youcan shut off.
That's where the control is.
Deb Neitz (09:49):
Anything with an off-on switch.
Yeah, that's a good rule ofthumb, yeah
Dan Marsellus (09:53):
That social aspect of sitting around a fire,
I get it.
Yeah, it's fun to do.
But when you have that emberthat pops off that log and lands
in the grass beside, you havethat ember that pops off that
log and lands in the grassbeside you and now your house is
in peril Right.
Christine (10:07):
It's just not worth it.
Deb Neitz (10:08):
One of our biggest risks that we have is people
actually burning garbage intheir burning barrel and so
making sure that you have acover over it and a plan If
there's ever an ember that getsout.
It better not be on a windy day, because that has started a lot
of fields on fire and it goesespecially in the spring.
There started a lot of fields onfire and it goes especially in
the spring.
There's a lot of long browngrass that is standing and
(10:29):
that's fuel, and then maybe youcan talk a little bit, dan,
about how farmers can help agrass fire kind of situation.
Dan Marsellus (10:35):
Yeah, when a grass fire occurs, it's mass
chaos.
Now I've heard an acronym chaos, as chief has arrived on scene,
but we're not talking aboutthat in this case.
But with that there'll be onepoint of contact.
The command element will be setup and most firefighters and
all that will know.
So if you come to a scene tohelp, if you bring your discs,
you bring water, you bring allthat look for the command and
(10:56):
we're getting to the point wherewe're trying to get green
lights to identify.
We're not there yet.
We've got some that have it andsome that don't.
If I'm out there, my truck willhave the green lights on and
I'll locate where the commandelement is so that way you can
come back and look for that.
With that, really coordinatethe efforts.
That's what we ask.
Just talk with the commandelement there.
They'll tell you where theyneed.
They may ask for your cellphone number.
(11:17):
We'll write it down.
We'll have a way to talk to you.
This is what we're going to do,this is the action we're going
to have and we'll incorporateyou in there.
Having some discers out therecuts down the amount of time.
We've actually got people outthere with shovels and picks and
Pulaski axes trying to make afire line.
That 10 foot, 20 foot wide discrear makes it so much easier
because you can go to mineralsoil right now.
As soon as we do that, we'vestopped the burning capability
(11:39):
of that fire.
It's not going any farther.
Christine (11:41):
So it's just worth taking that few extra minutes
when you get there to figure outwhere you're needed
Dan Marsellus (11:47):
Okay, and it's the safety of everybody safety
of you and your equipment andsafety of everybody around you.
Deb Neitz (11:51):
Number one is to always connect with somebody on
that fire department to ensurethat there's a safety aspect
that's getting looked at there.
Christine (11:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
So what is a common myth ormisunderstanding that people
might have about emergencyresponse?
Dan Marsellus (12:04):
We can do everything.
Christine (12:07):
You can't?
the
expectations that we can takea llama into an office building.
You can't?
Deb Neitz (12:15):
A mental health llama no we can't, oh man.
Dan Marsellus (12:20):
So with that we can only do so much.
If it's within the scope thatwe're allowed to operate in,
we'll do that.
If it's outside our scope, wewon't, because there's limits
and legality to working outsideour scope Green rescue, training
and all that.
We're aware of it, but we don'thave the equipment to take care
of that.
We have neighbours that can dothat, but we can mitigate while
(12:42):
we're waiting for our neighboursto get here.
Christine (12:44):
And that's actually a perfect segue into my next
question how does KneehillCounty coordinate with our
neighboring municipalities andemergency services?
Deb Neitz (12:52):
Yeah, so not only do we kind of work together for
fire services all the firedepartments in the area we also
work emergency management wisewith the rest of the
municipalities in our area too.
So Acme, Carbon, Linden, Trochu, Three Hills, Kneehill County
are all part of this group thatwe call KREMA, which is Kneehill
Regional Emergency ManagementAgency.
(13:13):
It's legislated through theprovince that municipalities
have an emergency managementprogram, and so we do it
together.
We also have FCSS that alsohelps us out with the emergency
social services side of it.
Christine (13:27):
Yes, they were the ones that put on the reception
center when we had to evacuateSwalwell.
Deb Neitz (13:32):
Yes, yeah, yes, they also are running these workshops
that are called, just in caseworkshops as well, and so it's
talking about.
If you need to go in a hurry,what are you going to grab?
Or if your house burns down,where are all your important
documents?
because you don't really thinkof those at the moment, right,
unless you're prepared, yeah, sowhat kinds of training and
(13:54):
exercises does KREMA do to stayprepared?
So, as an agency, each municipality has a director
of emergency management that'sappointed and we meet every two
months.
Sometimes we go through littletabletops.
We also meet some of the agencypartners.
For instance, like AtcoElectric might come to one of
those meetings.
We also have exercises,workshops, and so that's going
(14:16):
to train our staff, like ourmunicipal staff.
Alberta does have an incidentmanagement system that we follow
and that is the incidentcommand system, and so I think
people have heard of FEMA, whichis down in the States and it's
federal.
We also have Alberta EmergencyManagement Agency.
Here we have an act that we arelegislated to practice some of
(14:38):
the training.
Christine (14:39):
So, with Emergency Preparedness Week coming up,
what is the main message thisyear?
Deb Neitz (14:43):
The message that they have this year is be prepared
and know your risks, and so whatwe are asking people to do kind
of like know your surroundings,your house and your property,
including fire extinguishers inyour home stuff like that.
This year we're alsoconcentrating on looking up for
your hazards.
Being prepared for differentweather, such as like no gas or
(15:04):
no power during winter, looks alot different during the summer.
And so, looking at youremergency kit for the two
different situations might be.
One might be in your car ifyou're traveling.
That is really important in thewinter, whereas it's important
in the summer, but maybe not asimportant.
Christine (15:18):
Yeah, you're not going to freeze to death,
exactly, exactly.
And so what small steps canpeople take today that might
make a big difference in anemergency?
Dan Marsellus (15:27):
Biggest thing on that one is to have a kit.
Christine (15:29):
Yeah.
Dan Marsellus (15:29):
Even something simple, Basically have a blanket
, have a little bit of food,have a little bit of water in
there, check it occasionallylike have something to survive a
little bit.
Deb Neitz (15:40):
A 72-hour kit is a good thing to have at any time.
An evacuation kit actuallylooks a little bit different,
though.
An evacuation kit might includea checklist like don't forget
your pets and I think that was abig issue in some of the
deployments in the wildfires of2023.
People got evacuated and lefttheir pets.
You also have to think aboutwhat you're going to take for
your pets when you do take them,so make sure that you are
(16:02):
taking some food and some waterfor your pets and even a comfort
toy, right, because you mightnot be back in your house for a
number of hours, or maybe days,you're just not sure.
The other thing with anevacuation kit and again this is
a little bit escalated from a72-hour kit you might need your
CPAP machine because you mightbe staying in a different hotel,
(16:23):
you might need yourprescriptions, you might need
more than one set of clothing,you might need some cash to get
you through for a couple days.
The big one that we see all thetime is chargers for telephones
.
Oh yeah, that would be huge,yeah, and that should go in a
72-hour kit as well.
And then, if you are evacuated,you also need to look at
ensuring that your house is kindof like closed in.
(16:45):
Make sure your windows areclosed, your doors are locked,
maybe put new batteries in yoursecurity system.
Just because you are going tobe leaving your house doesn't
mean that we're not going tohave security.
But in a rural area it might bevery difficult to be able to
secure each individual propertywhen they're spread out.
Christine (17:01):
Right, it differs the amount of time you have when
you're being evacuated, right,like, sometimes you get a
warning Right and sometimes it'slike you got to go now.
Deb Neitz (17:08):
So having all that, stuff ready Right and when.
Like Dan and I both respondedlast year to the fires up in
Drayton Valley, Brazu Countyarea.
Dan Marsellus (17:17):
Yeah, in 23.
Deb Neitz (17:18):
In 23.
Did I say last?
Dan Marsellus (17:19):
yeah you did
Deb Neitz (17:20):
Okay.
Well, it feels like last year.
It did feel like last year.
So we went up there and part ofit was that like people
evacuated and they didn't taketheir chemo medication because
they thought that they weregoing to be back in their houses
in like two hours.
Christine (17:33):
Right.
Deb Neitz (17:34):
But they weren't.
It was.
It took, it took a week.
So just some of those littleconsiderations and even if it's
just a checklist before youleave your house is super
important, just so that you candouble check that not all people
can just have everything readysitting at the door and an extra
set of everything.
Right, but a checklist is superb,
Christine (17:52):
definitely the CPAP's important too.
It would suck to survive anemergency and then be murdered
because you were snoring allnight.
Deb Neitz (17:58):
Yes, that's not what we're going for
Dan Marsellus (18:02):
A simple thing on the batteries.
We have a time change twice ayear, so take your batteries in.
We recommend on the fire sideto change your smoke detector
batteries in.
Have a look at your securitysystems.
You've got a way to check thestatus that way, when the
emergency does hit, you'realready that's done.
You're not worried about itanymore.
Christine (18:19):
Yeah, that's good thinking.
So when you spring ahead andwhen you fall back, you change
the batteries in.
Dan Marsellus (18:23):
At least check them.
It's a good practice to have.
The reason most people leavethings behind is to panic.
So the checklist idea isimportant and a lot of emergency
management is how do we make itsimple so that we can think of
it in that time when we're notreally thinking?
Start with the checklist.
You don't need that $500 kit.
You can pick up five or sixthings that you already have in
(18:45):
your home.
You can set up a Tupperwarecontainer with everything in it.
Everybody I'm sure I'm datingmyself here, so I apologize may
have that big green mixing bowlor whatever that was, with that
plastic lid.
Set a few things in there.
You'll always remember that.
Christine (19:01):
Yeah, the Tupperware.
You can't leave home withoutthat Right.
No, when there is an emergency.
How does Kneehill County shareupdates and emergency alerts
with our residents and whatshould people do to stay
informed?
Deb Neitz (19:15):
Yeah, I think there's a few things, so we have the
Notify Me system, right?
on our website and so you cansign up for the Notify Me.
We also have all of our socialmedia channels, so every
municipality has their ownsocial media channels, such as,
like Facebook, twitter,instagram that we would post on
but fire departments also haveFacebook pages too and then
(19:39):
Alberta Emergency Alerts.
So that's a.
That's a quick app that you candownload.
It's important because you canactually pick even your own zone
, wherever you are, to get thosenotifications.
.
Christine (19:50):
Yeah, that's brilliant.
And if there ever is anemergency, make sure you go to
those official channels.
Like don't rely on the rumoryou're hearing on social media.
Like come Kneehill County, justkind of listen to what they
have to say.
Deb Neitz (20:00):
Our website is set up so that there's like a wealth
of information on there.
There's tons of different links, including that checklist for
the 72-hour kit, for theevacuation kit.
It has our livestock plan.
It has so many resources throughthe province and there's so
much information
Christine (20:18):
there really is, and we'll post that link on our
podcast page so you can just goto it real quick and check it
all out.
It's so good to know.
Deb Neitz (20:27):
The big thing with emergency management is that
people say it'll never happen.
I think that almost everybodyhas been impacted or knows
somebody who has been impactedby an evacuation of some sort or
an emergency In the past eightyears.
We've had the tornado, we've hadtrain derailments, we've had
train incidents, we've hadhazmat.
(20:48):
We have had all of theseweather related events as well
Kneehill County, and so it's notthat it's not going to happen
here, because it already hashappened here just depends on
the amount of impact it has onpeople and property, and so what
we ask is that the communitiesbe prepared as much as they can
take the time to, like I said,go onto the website.
(21:10):
There's tons of differentresources, even if you take 10
minutes just to go, find some ofthose resources, print off that
checklist for an evacuation ora 72-hour kit, and then maybe
follow some social mediachannels and download some apps,
just so that there's a betterunderstanding, because
notification is a big part ofemergency management.
(21:30):
A lot of times we do notifypeople of emergencies that are
happening through social mediabecause it's the quickest and
fastest form that we haveeasiest, I guess.
But at the same time, if youhave social media and you know
that your neighbor does not feelfree to have a conversation
with them, because we are hereas a big community to help each
(21:51):
other through any emergency, andthat's not only in the
notification process, it's inrecovery, it is in preparedness.
All of our communities justcontinue to work together and
making sure that people areprepared.
Christine (22:04):
Yeah, we all have a part to play, 100%, absolutely.
Dan Marsellus (22:07):
One thing too when we're talking about
community, take time in yourcommunity and get to know your
neighbor.
Most of us in the rural worlddo that already.
You get to know, oh yeah,neighbor on the right.
Well, they've got somebody thathas special needs.
They need oxygen, they're on ahome concentrator for oxygen for
them to work around, or they'retaking a special med, or
they've just had an injury andare just recovering.
(22:29):
Knowing those kinds of thingsabout your neighbors makes
emergency management that mucheasier.
So when something does happen,hey, we need to help.
Neighbor in house number 123next door here, and that way it
makes our jobs as emergencymanagers easy.
But it makes your life bettertoo, because you're taking care
of your neighbor.
Christine (22:45):
Yeah, no, that's brilliant advice.
We're definitely better off asa community having you guys at
the helm.
So thank you and thank you guysso much for joining me today and
sharing your expertise
Deb Neitz (22:55):
thank you for having us
Christine (22:56):
make sure you watch our social media next week
because, um, every day we willbe posting a little bit more
information about differentemergencies that Kneehill County
has gone through.
And make sure you tune in nextmonth for episode five Kneehill
Scoop podcast, and who's goingto be on?
You know what I don't even know, so we're all going to be
surprised.
Check that out in June.
Hello and welcome to episode four of the Kneehill
Scoop, Kneehill County'sofficial podcast.
I am your host, Christine, andI would like to officially
welcome you to the month of May.
Today is May 1st.
There is lots going on in theCounty right now, so buckle up
and I will tell you all about it.
First off, our dust controlprogram is now accepting
(00:29):
applications.
So we talked about this alittle bit in our last podcast,
which was all about roads (notemy shameless plug right there).
So if you want more informationabout it, go ahead and give
that podcast a listen.
But we do have calcium chlorideavailable for residents,
industrial operations,agricultural operations.
If you have a local gravel roadoutside your property, you can
(00:49):
apply to have the calciumchloride, which is $11.50 per
meter.
You have to apply by May 9th oryou can have spec crude applied
and those applications are openuntil June 13th.
Important to note with thecalcium chloride, if you're
paying for two applications,there's one that's done fairly
soon and then one is done in thefall.
But you can also, I believesometime in June we'll have it
(01:11):
on our website you can apply tohave, just like the single
application of calcium chloridethat is $5.75 per meter, and
again, that will be coming outlater, so just check back for
that.
Otherwise coming up, we have ourannual household hazardous
waste roundup.
So this is May 24th, from 10 amto 2 pm and that is at the
Kneehill County Shop Yard.
So yeah, if your garage is, youknow, you've got old cleaners,
(01:33):
you've got old paint cans,you've got old solvents, like
all that kind of stuff justcollecting dust in your shelves,
feel free to bring them on in.
A full list of what we acceptis available on our website.
This is for household wasteonly, so we don't accept
commercial loads.
So yeah, don't be an oldpainty- can Ned.
Make sure you bring in yourhousehold hazardous waste.
We also have our ratepayerevenings coming up.
(01:54):
I did speak about this a littlebit last episode, but make sure
you save the date.
We've got June 12th is inHuxley and June 19th is in
Horseshoe Canyon.
So we really encourage you tojust come on out, have some
supper, have a chat with yourneighbors.
We're going to have all of ourexperts in the same room.
Council will be there so youcan come, have some great
discussions, some conversations,ask your questions and maybe
(02:17):
even win a door prize or two.
Our scholarship program is stillaccepting applications, so you
have until June 30th to applyfor that, and I know we have a
bunch of local grads coming up,so you know it's a perfect time
to be thinking about this.
Get some money to go towardsyour university or your college
in the fall.
And more information on thescholarship is-- you guessed it,
on our website.
(02:38):
We love putting things on ourwebsite.
Our day use areas are nowofficially open so you can go to
Horseshoe Canyon or OrkneyViewpoint.
Take in the view, go for a hike.
Make sure if you are goinghiking in Horseshoe Canyon, it
can get really hot and dry downin the bottom.
Make sure you're taking lots ofwater and just like prepare
before you head down there.
Our campgrounds are opening longweekend in May.
(03:00):
If you want to book a site, youcan head to our website.
It's all done online throughlet's Camp and I'll make sure
that link is on our podcast pageas well.
So kicking off May is the annualEmergency Preparedness Week.
So this is from May 4th to 10th, just like the name says, to
raise public awareness aboutemergencies and how you can
(03:20):
prepare for them.
We always think that stuffnever happens here, but it does.
It's actually surprising howmany emergencies we've had in
Kneehill County.
So, joining me today to talkabout it, I have Deb Neitz and
Dan Marsellus, so thank you forjoining me.
Dan Marsellus (03:34):
Thank you.
Christine (03:35):
So Deb is our Protective Services Manager and
Dan is our Rural Fire Chief, buton top of those positions, they
are also our Director anddeputy director of emergency
management.
So what is emergency managementand why should residents care
about it?
Deb Neitz (03:50):
Simply, emergency management is about preparing
and responding and recoveringand then reviewing and
mitigating any risks.
Christine (03:59):
So what kind of emergencies are we most at risk
for?
Deb Neitz (04:02):
So in the county we look at it through a rural lens.
We have risks that are based ona probability, but what we see
is the impacts are increasing tothe people and property.
That's what we look at whenwe're doing our risk reviews.
So some of the risks that wehave in the county include not
only weather related, liketornadoes or overland flooding.
(04:23):
We also have more like thetraffic.
So we have big trucks, we havebig highways, more of a hazmat
risk, but then we also havetrain derailments, so more on
their like transportation routes
Christine (04:34):
right, and that's not something you really think of
when you think emergency, like Iwouldn't think, oh, a big truck
could cause something, but theydefinitely can't, absolutely
yeah
Dan Marsellus (04:41):
yeah, a few years ago we had a fuel tanker just
out here on highway 21.
We had to close highway,redirect traffic.
I was blocked for a good eighthours.
Then we had mitigation afterthat.
So we're going to do therecovery steps.
Now we're back into preparingfor another incident.
So, we keep this, this circlegoing, so we can look at things
(05:08):
learn from it and make it betterfor everybody else.
Christine (05:09):
Yeah, it never takes a day off preparing for
emergencies, really.
So is there different ways weprepare for, like wildfires
versus floods, versus tornadoes,or is it just just like you
said, we're always like in themiddle of preparing, recovering
Deb Neitz (05:16):
yeah, absolutely there's.
There's an entire cycle with it.
We work closely with the areafire departments as well,
especially when it comes tograss fires, and Dan can
probably talk a little bit moreabout that.
Dan Marsellus (05:25):
Yeah, we do.
The fire departments will getthe first notification.
They're going to come out,they're going to have a look at
it.
We'll do what we call a size up.
We basically look at what wehave.
What do we have coming in?
What can we do?
How are we going to mitigate it?
Once we have that in play, wego.
So last August we had that biggrass fire in the county.
We had four fire departmentscome in A sheer wind.
Wildfire is going to cover landvery quickly.
(05:47):
Vulcan County had one wherethey had to bring in water
bombers.
Wheatland County had one a fewyears ago too, where the rate of
spread was very fast.
You can't get people in frontof it, and the higher the flame
is at the front you're actuallygoing to hurt people.
So we've got to have the righttactics in that's where we take
care of that A tornado.
Basically, what we have to tellpeople is you have to have a go
bag ready.
Make sure you have somethingready for 72 hours.
(06:09):
There's a lot of informationout there.
I won't dive too much into thekit, but have a 72 hour kit
ready and have your importantdocuments with you have your
passport, your medications,anything you need for your pets.
Deb and I, we're also part ofthe Central Regional Hazard
Incident Management Team.
We deployed to Drayton Valleyand what we saw up there was
people left their pets behind,so we've got to take care of
(06:30):
their pets while they're gone.
If you don't take them, theybecome something that we have to
look after, plain and simple.
Christine (06:36):
And because we are rural, we also have the
livestock emergency plan right.
Dan Marsellus (06:40):
You betcha.
Christine (06:41):
And so you kind of touched this a little bit.
But grass fires, especiallywhen it's drier as it has been,
and we do have those crazy windscoming through.
So what can residents do toprevent them?
Dan Marsellus (06:55):
You may notice every spring and fall that
within Nehal County a fire banwill come into play.
There's technically four levelsto it.
One is no fire ban, no alert,no anything.
The first level is a fireadvisory.
We are aware of dryingconditions.
We're aware that we don't haveenough moisture.
With the burn permit processthat we have, we want to make
sure that what you're trying toburn can be mitigated.
Putting the advisory on it'slike okay, hey, be aware.
(07:17):
The next level is restriction.
We don't opt for therestriction level because it
only deals with public lands.
There's not a lot of publiclands here.
We go right to fire ban as thenext level.
At that point all fire activitystops.
Right now.
We are looking at putting on onevery soon.
We're aware of how dry theconditions are out now.
We haven't had a lot ofmoisture.
(07:38):
We are expecting some high heator wind speeds to be increasing
as well.
So we look at a lot ofinformation when we decide to
put this on.
We go to the fire danger mapson the Alberta website.
Alberta wildfire has a lot ofsystems out there where they
monitor the weather for us.
We don't have to spend money onthat.
As a county we can actually tapinto that and everybody in the
(08:01):
public can go to the fire dangermaps and have a look for
themselves.
We look at fine fuel moisturecontent, so that tells us how
dry the grasses are.
That tells us how much we'vegot there.
We look at the initial spreadindex.
So, based on the winds comingin and how dry things are, how
quickly is that fire going tomove?
If these are in the extreme, weput a fire ban on going to move
(08:25):
.
If these are in the extreme, weput a fire ban on If you had a
fire pit over winter.
Fire bans kind of lead into that.
But this is just one extra step.
Check them for heat.
They've been covered, they'vebeen smothered, they've been
under all this nice snow andthey've had a chance to just
insulate with the heat as thesewinds kick up.
We had a couple in the lastcouple weeks here where they
reignited the fire triangle.
We need a fuel source, we needair to feed it and we need fuel.
(08:49):
Well, they have the heat andthe fuel.
All they needed was the air.
So as the winds pick up nowthey've got the air back again
the fire restarts.
So with that, if you canmitigate that by going through,
and if you notice it's hot, takeyour harrows out if you can and
just go around it and get it tomineral earth so you can limit
how far that's going to go andjust contain it in there.
(09:10):
Then we can come in with thetrucks and soak it down and put
it out.
Or if you've got your own watertrailer and all that there,
please take care of it yourself.
Go in there.
You've got the equipment to getinto wherever your burn pits
are at and you can dump water inthere to actually put it out.
But you're actually mitigatingit better that way for us.
When we can't do those kinds ofthings, we need to put the ban
(09:31):
on and slow the chances forthese things to go.
So that's why we have the fireban system.
Christine (09:35):
And it's important to note like during a fire
advisory, you're allowedcampfires still.
Dan Marsellus (09:39):
Yes.
Christine (09:40):
During a fire ban.
You are not.
Dan Marsellus (09:42):
Correct, you can still use propane, right,
anything that has a gas that youcan shut off.
That's where the control is.
Deb Neitz (09:49):
Anything with an off-on switch.
Yeah, that's a good rule ofthumb, yeah
Dan Marsellus (09:53):
That social aspect of sitting around a fire,
I get it.
Yeah, it's fun to do.
But when you have that emberthat pops off that log and lands
in the grass beside, you havethat ember that pops off that
log and lands in the grassbeside you and now your house is
in peril Right.
Christine (10:07):
It's just not worth it.
Deb Neitz (10:08):
One of our biggest risks that we have is people
actually burning garbage intheir burning barrel and so
making sure that you have acover over it and a plan If
there's ever an ember that getsout.
It better not be on a windy day, because that has started a lot
of fields on fire and it goesespecially in the spring.
There started a lot of fields onfire and it goes especially in
the spring.
There's a lot of long browngrass that is standing and
(10:29):
that's fuel, and then maybe youcan talk a little bit, dan,
about how farmers can help agrass fire kind of situation.
Dan Marsellus (10:35):
Yeah, when a grass fire occurs, it's mass
chaos.
Now I've heard an acronym chaos, as chief has arrived on scene,
but we're not talking aboutthat in this case.
But with that there'll be onepoint of contact.
The command element will be setup and most firefighters and
all that will know.
So if you come to a scene tohelp, if you bring your discs,
you bring water, you bring allthat look for the command and
(10:56):
we're getting to the point wherewe're trying to get green
lights to identify.
We're not there yet.
We've got some that have it andsome that don't.
If I'm out there, my truck willhave the green lights on and
I'll locate where the commandelement is so that way you can
come back and look for that.
With that, really coordinatethe efforts.
That's what we ask.
Just talk with the commandelement there.
They'll tell you where theyneed.
They may ask for your cellphone number.
(11:17):
We'll write it down.
We'll have a way to talk to you.
This is what we're going to do,this is the action we're going
to have and we'll incorporateyou in there.
Having some discers out therecuts down the amount of time.
We've actually got people outthere with shovels and picks and
Pulaski axes trying to make afire line.
That 10 foot, 20 foot wide discrear makes it so much easier
because you can go to mineralsoil right now.
As soon as we do that, we'vestopped the burning capability
(11:39):
of that fire.
It's not going any farther.
Christine (11:41):
So it's just worth taking that few extra minutes
when you get there to figure outwhere you're needed
Dan Marsellus (11:47):
Okay, and it's the safety of everybody safety
of you and your equipment andsafety of everybody around you.
Deb Neitz (11:51):
Number one is to always connect with somebody on
that fire department to ensurethat there's a safety aspect
that's getting looked at there.
Christine (11:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
So what is a common myth ormisunderstanding that people
might have about emergencyresponse?
Dan Marsellus (12:04):
We can do everything.
Christine (12:07):
You can't?
the
expectations that we can takea llama into an office building.
You can't?
Deb Neitz (12:15):
A mental health llama no we can't, oh man.
Dan Marsellus (12:20):
So with that we can only do so much.
If it's within the scope thatwe're allowed to operate in,
we'll do that.
If it's outside our scope, wewon't, because there's limits
and legality to working outsideour scope Green rescue, training
and all that.
We're aware of it, but we don'thave the equipment to take care
of that.
We have neighbours that can dothat, but we can mitigate while
(12:42):
we're waiting for our neighboursto get here.
Christine (12:44):
And that's actually a perfect segue into my next
question how does KneehillCounty coordinate with our
neighboring municipalities andemergency services?
Deb Neitz (12:52):
Yeah, so not only do we kind of work together for
fire services all the firedepartments in the area we also
work emergency management wisewith the rest of the
municipalities in our area too.
So Acme, Carbon, Linden, Trochu, Three Hills, Kneehill County
are all part of this group thatwe call KREMA, which is Kneehill
Regional Emergency ManagementAgency.
(13:13):
It's legislated through theprovince that municipalities
have an emergency managementprogram, and so we do it
together.
We also have FCSS that alsohelps us out with the emergency
social services side of it.
Christine (13:27):
Yes, they were the ones that put on the reception
center when we had to evacuateSwalwell.
Deb Neitz (13:32):
Yes, yeah, yes, they also are running these workshops
that are called, just in caseworkshops as well, and so it's
talking about.
If you need to go in a hurry,what are you going to grab?
Or if your house burns down,where are all your important
documents?
because you don't really thinkof those at the moment, right,
unless you're prepared, yeah, sowhat kinds of training and
(13:54):
exercises does KREMA do to stayprepared?
So, as an agency, each municipality has a director
of emergency management that'sappointed and we meet every two
months.
Sometimes we go through littletabletops.
We also meet some of the agencypartners.
For instance, like AtcoElectric might come to one of
those meetings.
We also have exercises,workshops, and so that's going
(14:16):
to train our staff, like ourmunicipal staff.
Alberta does have an incidentmanagement system that we follow
and that is the incidentcommand system, and so I think
people have heard of FEMA, whichis down in the States and it's
federal.
We also have Alberta EmergencyManagement Agency.
Here we have an act that we arelegislated to practice some of
(14:38):
the training.
Christine (14:39):
So, with Emergency Preparedness Week coming up,
what is the main message thisyear?
Deb Neitz (14:43):
The message that they have this year is be prepared
and know your risks, and so whatwe are asking people to do kind
of like know your surroundings,your house and your property,
including fire extinguishers inyour home stuff like that.
This year we're alsoconcentrating on looking up for
your hazards.
Being prepared for differentweather, such as like no gas or
(15:04):
no power during winter, looks alot different during the summer.
And so, looking at youremergency kit for the two
different situations might be.
One might be in your car ifyou're traveling.
That is really important in thewinter, whereas it's important
in the summer, but maybe not asimportant.
Christine (15:18):
Yeah, you're not going to freeze to death,
exactly, exactly.
And so what small steps canpeople take today that might
make a big difference in anemergency?
Dan Marsellus (15:27):
Biggest thing on that one is to have a kit.
Christine (15:29):
Yeah.
Dan Marsellus (15:29):
Even something simple, Basically have a blanket
, have a little bit of food,have a little bit of water in
there, check it occasionallylike have something to survive a
little bit.
Deb Neitz (15:40):
A 72-hour kit is a good thing to have at any time.
An evacuation kit actuallylooks a little bit different,
though.
An evacuation kit might includea checklist like don't forget
your pets and I think that was abig issue in some of the
deployments in the wildfires of2023.
People got evacuated and lefttheir pets.
You also have to think aboutwhat you're going to take for
your pets when you do take them,so make sure that you are
(16:02):
taking some food and some waterfor your pets and even a comfort
toy, right, because you mightnot be back in your house for a
number of hours, or maybe days,you're just not sure.
The other thing with anevacuation kit and again this is
a little bit escalated from a72-hour kit you might need your
CPAP machine because you mightbe staying in a different hotel,
(16:23):
you might need yourprescriptions, you might need
more than one set of clothing,you might need some cash to get
you through for a couple days.
The big one that we see all thetime is chargers for telephones
.
Oh yeah, that would be huge,yeah, and that should go in a
72-hour kit as well.
And then, if you are evacuated,you also need to look at
ensuring that your house is kindof like closed in.
(16:45):
Make sure your windows areclosed, your doors are locked,
maybe put new batteries in yoursecurity system.
Just because you are going tobe leaving your house doesn't
mean that we're not going tohave security.
But in a rural area it might bevery difficult to be able to
secure each individual propertywhen they're spread out.
Christine (17:01):
Right, it differs the amount of time you have when
you're being evacuated, right,like, sometimes you get a
warning Right and sometimes it'slike you got to go now.
Deb Neitz (17:08):
So having all that, stuff ready Right and when.
Like Dan and I both respondedlast year to the fires up in
Drayton Valley, Brazu Countyarea.
Dan Marsellus (17:17):
Yeah, in 23.
Deb Neitz (17:18):
In 23.
Did I say last?
Dan Marsellus (17:19):
yeah you did
Deb Neitz (17:20):
Okay.
Well, it feels like last year.
It did feel like last year.
So we went up there and part ofit was that like people
evacuated and they didn't taketheir chemo medication because
they thought that they weregoing to be back in their houses
in like two hours.
Christine (17:33):
Right.
Deb Neitz (17:34):
But they weren't.
It was.
It took, it took a week.
So just some of those littleconsiderations and even if it's
just a checklist before youleave your house is super
important, just so that you candouble check that not all people
can just have everything readysitting at the door and an extra
set of everything.
Right, but a checklist is superb,
Christine (17:52):
definitely the CPAP's important too.
It would suck to survive anemergency and then be murdered
because you were snoring allnight.
Deb Neitz (17:58):
Yes, that's not what we're going for
Dan Marsellus (18:02):
A simple thing on the batteries.
We have a time change twice ayear, so take your batteries in.
We recommend on the fire sideto change your smoke detector
batteries in.
Have a look at your securitysystems.
You've got a way to check thestatus that way, when the
emergency does hit, you'realready that's done.
You're not worried about itanymore.
Christine (18:19):
Yeah, that's good thinking.
So when you spring ahead andwhen you fall back, you change
the batteries in.
Dan Marsellus (18:23):
At least check them.
It's a good practice to have.
The reason most people leavethings behind is to panic.
So the checklist idea isimportant and a lot of emergency
management is how do we make itsimple so that we can think of
it in that time when we're notreally thinking?
Start with the checklist.
You don't need that $500 kit.
You can pick up five or sixthings that you already have in
(18:45):
your home.
You can set up a Tupperwarecontainer with everything in it.
Everybody I'm sure I'm datingmyself here, so I apologize may
have that big green mixing bowlor whatever that was, with that
plastic lid.
Set a few things in there.
You'll always remember that.
Christine (19:01):
Yeah, the Tupperware.
You can't leave home withoutthat Right.
No, when there is an emergency.
How does Kneehill County shareupdates and emergency alerts
with our residents and whatshould people do to stay
informed?
Deb Neitz (19:15):
Yeah, I think there's a few things, so we have the
Notify Me system, right?
on our website and so you cansign up for the Notify Me.
We also have all of our socialmedia channels, so every
municipality has their ownsocial media channels, such as,
like Facebook, twitter,instagram that we would post on
but fire departments also haveFacebook pages too and then
(19:39):
Alberta Emergency Alerts.
So that's a.
That's a quick app that you candownload.
It's important because you canactually pick even your own zone
, wherever you are, to get thosenotifications.
.
Christine (19:50):
Yeah, that's brilliant.
And if there ever is anemergency, make sure you go to
those official channels.
Like don't rely on the rumoryou're hearing on social media.
Like come Kneehill County, justkind of listen to what they
have to say.
Deb Neitz (20:00):
Our website is set up so that there's like a wealth
of information on there.
There's tons of different links, including that checklist for
the 72-hour kit, for theevacuation kit.
It has our livestock plan.
It has so many resources throughthe province and there's so
much information
Christine (20:18):
there really is, and we'll post that link on our
podcast page so you can just goto it real quick and check it
all out.
It's so good to know.
Deb Neitz (20:27):
The big thing with emergency management is that
people say it'll never happen.
I think that almost everybodyhas been impacted or knows
somebody who has been impactedby an evacuation of some sort or
an emergency In the past eightyears.
We've had the tornado, we've hadtrain derailments, we've had
train incidents, we've hadhazmat.
(20:48):
We have had all of theseweather related events as well
Kneehill County, and so it's notthat it's not going to happen
here, because it already hashappened here just depends on
the amount of impact it has onpeople and property, and so what
we ask is that the communitiesbe prepared as much as they can
take the time to, like I said,go onto the website.
(21:10):
There's tons of differentresources, even if you take 10
minutes just to go, find some ofthose resources, print off that
checklist for an evacuation ora 72-hour kit, and then maybe
follow some social mediachannels and download some apps,
just so that there's a betterunderstanding, because
notification is a big part ofemergency management.
(21:30):
A lot of times we do notifypeople of emergencies that are
happening through social mediabecause it's the quickest and
fastest form that we haveeasiest, I guess.
But at the same time, if youhave social media and you know
that your neighbor does not feelfree to have a conversation
with them, because we are hereas a big community to help each
(21:51):
other through any emergency, andthat's not only in the
notification process, it's inrecovery, it is in preparedness.
All of our communities justcontinue to work together and
making sure that people areprepared.
Christine (22:04):
Yeah, we all have a part to play, 100%, absolutely.
Dan Marsellus (22:07):
One thing too when we're talking about
community, take time in yourcommunity and get to know your
neighbor.
Most of us in the rural worlddo that already.
You get to know, oh yeah,neighbor on the right.
Well, they've got somebody thathas special needs.
They need oxygen, they're on ahome concentrator for oxygen for
them to work around, or they'retaking a special med, or
they've just had an injury andare just recovering.
(22:29):
Knowing those kinds of thingsabout your neighbors makes
emergency management that mucheasier.
So when something does happen,hey, we need to help.
Neighbor in house number 123next door here, and that way it
makes our jobs as emergencymanagers easy.
But it makes your life bettertoo, because you're taking care
of your neighbor.
Christine (22:45):
Yeah, no, that's brilliant advice.
We're definitely better off asa community having you guys at
the helm.
So thank you and thank you guysso much for joining me today and
sharing your expertise
Deb Neitz (22:55):
thank you for having us
Christine (22:56):
make sure you watch our social media next week
because, um, every day we willbe posting a little bit more
information about differentemergencies that Kneehill County
has gone through.
And make sure you tune in nextmonth for episode five Kneehill
Scoop podcast, and who's goingto be on?
You know what I don't even know, so we're all going to be
surprised.
Check that out in June.
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Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.