April 29, 2002, Backgrounder Emergency Exercise to be held May 29, 2002 in downtown Newmarket

The Regional Municipality of York, York Regional Police and the Town of Newmarket maintain active Emergency Measures Plans to be ready in the event of a large-scale emergency, such as a chemical spill, plane crash, tornado, flash flood, severe winter storm or earthquake.

The purpose of these Emergency Measures Programs is to protect and preserve life and property during times of crisis by providing efficient, co-ordinated emergency services and responsible decision-making.

York Region and the Town of Newmarket, in conjunction with GO Transit, York Regional Police and Central York Fire Services have been planning extensively for the May 29^th emergency exercise, called Exercise Timothy.

The purpose of Exercise Timothy is to identify strengths and deficiencies in order to determine where improvements in plans, policies and procedures can be made.

The ultimate goal of Exercise Timothy is to strengthen regional, municipal and other agencies' capabilities to provide an effective co-ordinated response to future emergency situations.

The Regional Municipality of York and the Town of Newmarket support emergency preparedness through planning, training and exercises. Exercise Timothy is York Region and Newmarket's first mass casualty emergency exercise.

York Region (see attached Fact Sheet) and the Town of Newmarket's Emergency Measures Plans are available at www.region.york.on.ca. and www.town.newmarket.on.ca respectively.

Contact: Patrick Casey, Senior Media Relations Specialist, York Region

Wanda Bennett, Communications Officer, Town of Newmarket

Fact Sheet

York Region is ready to act in the event of a large-scale emergency. Equipped to play a pivotal role in co-ordinating emergency response services among its nine member municipalities, the Region has a team of qualified professionals with a response plan and the infrastructure in place to ensure the safety of its residents should disaster strike.

York Region has assigned a full-time manager, Russ Smye, to oversee an Emergency Measures Program. This program enables the Region's response team to protect lives and property by providing effective and efficient emergency services.

If local municipalities have insufficient resources to manage an emergency situation, the mayor of that municipality may request assistance from the Region. Once called upon for help, the Region activates the York Regional Emergency Plan and the Regional Chair may declare a state of emergency in the affected area. The Chair may also declare a state of Regional Emergency if it is determined that the situation affects more than one municipality or a large portion of the Region's residents.

In an impending emergency situation or when a regional emergency is declared, the Regional Emergency Operations Centre and the Regional Emergency Information Centre will be activated. Residents can contact the Regional EPIC for assistance at 1-877-967-5457. This toll-free number is designed to provide current information only and should not be confused with 911, which is used to dispatch police, fire and ambulance services.

York Region residents' best protection in any emergency is knowing what to do. The Regional Municipality of York has produced an Emergency Preparedness Guidebook, which offers 32 pages of in-depth advice on how to plan for an emergency, how to safeguard your home, how to survive specific disasters, and how to come with the physical and emotional reactions to a traumatic event.

The Emergency Preparedness Guidebook is available free of charge in person from the Information Kiosk at the York Region Administrative Centre at 17250 Yonge Street in Newmarket, or by visiting the York Region Web site at www.region.york.on.ca