Coaldale prepares for emergencies with annual two-day training event

Posted on October 29, 2026 by Sunny South News

By Kristine Jean
Sunny South News

Town of Coaldale staff, officials, volunteers and emergency services recently came together to participate in the Town’s annual emergency training program. 

The two-day event took place Oct. 21-22 at two different locations in Coaldale and involved practice scenarios to help prepare for an emergency situation. 

“We did an emergency management scenario simulating a fire moving through Coaldale,” said Clayton Rutberg, director of protective services and fire chief for the Coaldale and District Fire Rescue and Emergency Services. “We do one every year to test our emergency response plans in the town.” 

Rutberg spoke about the processes involved in the training scenario that took place at the Coaldale Fire Hall on day one and at the Gem of the West Museum on day two. 

“On the first day we had the Town’s incident command post up and running here at the fire hall, where all of our town staff came together to manage the response to an event – everything from fire suppression to evacuations, how we are going to shelter evacuees, how we’re going to take care of people while they’re out of their homes,” said Rutberg, noting officials and staff worked through any potential problems and challenges as well.  

Day two was a continuation of the practice scenario and simulating the same emergency event but at the Town’s reception centre, at Gem of the West Museum. 

“We had our reception centre up and running so that evacuees could come in, register and receive supports that they might need – whether they left medications at home or they need dog food for their animals or whatever problems they might have, having left their homes (due to the emergency event),” said Rutberg.  

The emergency training was held over a two day period to help streamline activities and coordinate the simulation, he noted, adding in a real life emergency situation it would be a similar process but would happen simultaneously.

In addition, there were a number of volunteers helping with the training scenario, including several high school students from Coaldale Prairie Winds Secondary School.  

Rutberg spoke on the importance of a municipality being prepared for any emergency and holding scenarios like this every year. 

“It is a super important process. We need to keep on top of our skills – lots of people aren’t thinking about this stuff day to day,” said Rutberg. “It’s very important that we have these training events so they can practice their role.”      

While there are no changes or additions to the emergency preparedness program and protocol this year, Rutberg said they are always updating the process to ensure best practices and efficiencies.

“Just to test the system and make sure everything’s working. We’re always making small improvements,” said Rutberg, noting some feedback about the training event. “It went really well. We always identify things we can fix and improve, but overall the event went smoothly and it allowed us to get everybody together and make sure that we’re ready to respond if we have a real emergency.”