Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Tom Sampson, the retiring chief of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA), will be announcing the new CEMA chief in a press conference at noon on Friday.
Sampson was appointed as CEMA chief in 2015 when the agency separated from the Calgary Fire Department. He announced his retirement on Oct. 7, following a 35-year career that included developing the Emergency Operations Centre, serving as deputy chief and executive officer of the fire department and as chief of Calgary Emergency Medical Services.
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Tom Sampson, chief of Calgary Emergency Management Agency, retires
Sampson provided leadership during catastrophic events like the 2011 Slave Lake wildfires, the 2013 floods in Calgary and the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires.
Sampson’s last day with the city is Monday, after which he said he plans to depart to B.C. to provide medical care for his sister and brother-in-law.
The CEMA chief and mayor will also be providing an update on the city’s response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic during Friday’s news conference.
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Calgary declares second coronavirus pandemic-related state of local emergency
Questions still remain between the city and province in terms of enforcing new health restrictions like the banning of indoor social gatherings and restrictions on dining out to be limited to household members only.
In an interview with The Morning News on Global News Radio 770 CHQR, Nenshi said Calgarians can’t yet call 311 to register complaints about infractions during Alberta’s state of public health emergency.
“There’s a bit of an issue going on with the city and the province in terms of enforcement that needs to get sorted out,” Nenshi said. “It will be 311, but in the meantime, you can call the police non-emergency line — 403-266-1234.”
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COVID-19: City of Calgary to seek approval to enforce newly-announced health restrictions
Wednesday, Calgary declared a state of local emergency to put the city “back on an emergency footing.”
“I think it’s an important symbol for people who are making decisions about their lives to understand that we really are in an emergency,” Nenshi told The Morning News.
“But at this moment, we’re not anticipating writing any orders beyond what the province has written.”
Nenshi said arguments of whether the provincial measures will be enough to halt the spread of COVID-19 are moot.
“None of that matters,” the mayor said. “The point is these orders are in place, they are the law — nobody in your house who doesn’t live there unless they’re a caregiver, no going to restaurants or bars with people who don’t live in your house, and so on.
“We’ve got to follow them and we’ve got to think to ourselves, ‘How do we do even better?’”
–more to come…