With Covid-19 restrictions lifting around the world, travel is once again on the minds of Canadians for the first time in almost three years – and not just those who’ll be doing the traveling. For YVR International Airport’s Emergency Planning Team, the return of passengers means a return to the complex art of preparing for the worst. As Canadians take to the skies once more, YVR and Ally Emergency Management are hard at work, planning a full-scale, multi-agency exercise to ensure that if disaster strikes, their team will be ready to strike back.
Exercise Door Crasher is currently slated for late September, and will simulate a Crash-on-Airport event. As the name suggests, participants will have the opportunity to respond to a fictional scenario in which an aircraft loses control during an emergency landing, and crashes on the YVR runway. Representatives from over 15 different external agencies will take part in the exercise alongside YVR staff, ensuring participants are fully immersed in the event.
According to Paul Ursich, CEO of Ally Emergency Management, Exercise Door Crasher is intended to test the limits of the participants’ ability to respond to a crisis, without becoming too much to handle all at once.
“What you want to do is run an exercise that challenges people to where there are opportunities to learn, but not overwhelm them to the point where no matter what they do, there’s no way to affect the outcomes,” says Ursich.
At the same time, Ursich is aware that Door Crasher may be a new experience for some participants, and has taken that into consideration during planning. Due to the pandemic, YVR hasn’t had the opportunity to run an exercise of this scale since 2019. With that in mind, Ursich says he hopes to make the experience a welcoming reintroduction to full-scale exercises, for both on-the-ground participants and staff alike.
“I think the challenge is that it’s been three years since the last [exercise], and a lot of rust that can build up – both in terms of running an exercise, and in terms of the responses that we test for…. We need to make sure we tailor [Door Crasher] to the level that people are at.”
Carla Hanson, YVR’S Manager of Emergency Planning, says Exercise Door Crasher will be a valuable opportunity for participants to strengthen the bonds they have with their team.
“Every time you go through an event with someone, it really deepens your comfort with that person; it deepens your relationship with that person and you just work more seamlessly every time there’s an event,” says Hanson. “This is an opportunity to have a big event where nobody gets hurt, and still practice and build on those skills. I would hope everyone walks away with a deeper relationship with the people they played with than they had before.”
For Hanson, Ally Emergency Management has been a vital support throughout Door Crasher’s planning process, and says she greatly appreciates the assistance and efficiency Ally’s staff brings out in her team.
“Ally has been an ally, it’s a really aptly named organization. They’re an ally to our objectives, and it’s been a really positive experience working with them,” says Hanson. “I’ve been at the airport for 20 years, and I’ve participated in a number of exercises. But I really saw our exercises level up in terms of organization and professionalism when Ally came onboard and started working with our existing planning department.”
