Emergency response plan

How do people react when acute danger is imminent? And how can organizations prepare for potential calamities? Just a while ago, I experienced a fire drill at a well-known brewery located in a shared office building. However, the evacuation from the town of Jasper because of huge, threatening wildfires during my recent summer holiday in western Canada was on a completely different scale.

The threat was clear to our family when we arrived in Jasper in the late afternoon of 22 July. The sky glowed strangely orange, different from the grey clouds of smoke seen earlier elsewhere on our route. And on our way to a restaurant for dinner, we encountered a strong sandstorm, which forced us to take shelter behind an advertising hoarding. At the restaurant, the waitress told us that three wildfires had converged, and the situation was alarming. Jasper residents had even been warned of a possible evacuation. Should it indeed come to that, we would receive an alert on our mobile phones, she informed us.

High danger level

Walking back to our hotel, we watched the sky turn further dark brown in the sunset. My wife and I told our two children, aged 23 and 17, to keep their suitcases ready for a possible emergency departure. A little after 10pm, a piercing alarm sounded from all our mobile phones with the accompanying text message that everyone should leave Jasper immediately via Highway 16 to the west. Within five minutes we were in the car, which I had already strategically parked close to the car park exit. The car’s satnav showed me the shortest route to the only way out of the town, which had 5,000 inhabitants plus around 20,000 tourists. According to the alert, the fire was supposed to reach Jasper within five hours, meaning the danger level was high.

Barely a few hundred metres down the road, we joined an endless line of cars. From all streets and alleys came cars wanting to merge on the route to Jasper’s main street towards the highway. We were overtaken by a fireman on a bicycle. For over two hours, we stood virtually still, while ash swirled down like snow around the cars and the smell of smoke became increasingly stifling. Most motorists waited neatly in line, letting others filter in one by one. Only a few overtook the endless queue in order to push in further ahead. I was actually afraid that many more drivers would react like this, resulting in absolute traffic chaos. But most remained disciplined and waited. Here and there, a dog was also briefly given a walk.

All traffic in one lane

Fortunately, the original message that the fire would reach Jasper in five hours was retracted, but everyone still had to be evacuated in that time frame. We were finally able to merge onto Jasper’s main street well after midnight where we found one police officer single-handedly directing the stream of hundreds of cars and buses. A man on a skateboard rushed past us with a jerry can of petrol. A car without petrol could easily cause severe delays in the endless single queue of vehicles. When we were finally directed onto Highway 16 by a second officer, I was surprised to learn that this was only a two-lane road, and only one lane was being used. In an endless single-lane column, we drove to the next town of Valemount, over 100 kilometres away. Why didn’t the cars also drive on the left lane, which would have doubled the road capacity?

The simple answer to this logistical question was given to me the next day by a railway employee from Jasper, who had brought a train with inflammable cargo to safety from the disaster area on the day of the evacuation. The man had witnessed that after ice hockey games with tens of thousands of visitors, all roads were directed in one direction for maximum flow. But he said this was not possible when Jasper was evacuated because the town has only three police officers on duty with four auxiliary officers on call. These officers had to direct traffic at the main intersections in the town themselves, and could not possibly make the left lane of Highway 16 available for the evacuation.

Canadians are courteous drivers

According to the railway employee from Jasper, an evacuation like this was unprecedented and he doubted whether complete plans were available for it. Personally, I think the evacuation went well under the circumstances because the Canadians are extremely courteous drivers. This is particularly noticeable at the 4-way stop-sign intersections that are common in Canada. The car that arrives first has priority, unlike in the Netherlands where traffic from the right has priority. I also doubt that a similar evacuation would have been as disciplined in our country, where drivers often behave much more aggressively in traffic.

Psychology recognizes several possible responses to imminent danger: fight, flight or freeze. However, the evacuation in Jasper struck me as a disciplined departure rather than actually flight. I think people’s reaction in such a situation also depends a lot on the level of discipline among individuals and groups. A fire drill helps, but I wonder if companies and organizations also have practical detailed plans for when panic really breaks out and chaos ensues. And perhaps people’s behaviour under pressure is also difficult to factor into a plan.

Martijn Lofvers, Chief Trendwatcher Supply Chain Media
martijn.lofvers@supplychainmedia.nl