Manitoba flood fleet adds helicopter

Manitoba has added a helicopter aerial rescue team toitsemergency flood response and will have a crew on standby 24 hours a day throughout the spring flood.

Premier Greg Selinger made the announcement Wednesday.

"This team will be ready to respond to assist municipalities and citizens in the event of an emergency," he stated in a press release.

"We hope that all the preparations and advance notice to residents will mean we won't need to deploy this lifesaving rescue team, but at the same time we want to be ready just in case."

'We hope that all the preparations and advance notice to residents will mean we won't need to deploy this lifesaving rescue team, but at the same time we want to be ready just in case.' Premier Greg Selinger

The Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC) has arranged for specialized training for four of its rescue technicians and four City of Winnipeg fire paramedics.

Once training is complete, they will be certified under Transport Canada regulations to be deployed on a moment's notice in the event of an emergency during the spring flood, Selinger said.

The eight team members will continue with their regular day-to-day duties through the flood, but will rotate through a shift as the on-call team member so there is always someone available to respond, Selinger said.

In addition, a heavy-lift helicopter has been temporarily retained for the exclusive use of the OFC and will be moved to different areas of the province depending on the flood situation so it is ready for immediate response.

"In the future, the OFC will be able to expand the team and offer the necessary training to more of its members so that we can broaden the capacity for emergency response," Labour and Immigration Minister Jennifer Howard, minister responsible for the OFC, said.

This air support adds to the existing OFC capabilities including water rescue, ground search and rescue, building collapse and hazardous materials response and technical response assistance to municipalities, stated the government press release.