Town of Amherstburg making way with preparation plans

The Town of Amherstburg is beginning to make progress with the provincial government to receive equal funding for their nuclear emergency response plan regarding Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station.

Taras Natyshak, the MPP for the Windsor-Essex area, accompanied by Amherstburg Fire Chief Bruce Montone and Deputy Fire Chief Lee Tome, made a trip to Queens Park in Toronto to bring attention to Amherstburg’s nuclear situation. The presentation was given to Marie-France Lalonde, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Facilities. The Town of Amherstburg sits across the river from the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station, also known as Fermi II, in the primary zone of radioactive danger if an accident were to occur.

“Taras Natyshak asked the minister a very direct question about what are they going to do to help Amherstburg, and are you going to commit today to helping them and treat them the same as everyone else,” said Montone. “Now she has committed to additional discussion with her office directly. That’s awesome, so hopefully something will come of that.”

In addition to being the town’s Fire Chief, Monton is also the Community Emergency Management Coordinator and has been working extensively on the towns nuclear emergency response plan. The town has had emergency sirens for decades but has decided to invest in a mass notification system made by Everbridge to alert the residents of the town through their phones, emails and fax machines in case of an emergency.

“The benefit of that product versus the sirens is we not only alert them but we tell them what we want them to do, where the sirens don’t,” said Montone. “They say there’s an issue, there’s no details, there’s no actions that we can tell them to take.”

The town has struggled to get attention from the provincial government as Fermi II resides in Frenchtown Charter Township, Michigan and not Canada. This has become an issue as it is not in the provinces jurisdiction to mandate them to supply funding to the town for their nuclear emergency response plan.

Despite this, Fermi II funds the town with $25,000 annually without mandate. Though the town receives funding from Fermi II, it is not enough for proper preparation.

For example the Town of Kincardine resides in the primary zone of the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, but due to the station being in Canada, the province mandates them to fund the town with $105,000 annually which is used for their nuclear response plan, equipment purchasing and training. Compare this to the funding Amherstburg receives from the kindness of Fermi II and a problem arises.

Jason Lavigne, a town council member for Amherstburg expressed frustration with the provincial government’s efforts to assist the town with funding. Despite his frustration, he expressed great confidence in the abilities of the fire department and their emergency planning.

“I represent the taxpayers of the town of Amherstburg, so one of the things on the forefront of their minds are their safety and their families safety, so when you talk about something like nuclear preparedness and what would happen in the event of an emergency, it’s pretty important on the top of their list,” said Lavigne.

According to Lavigne, politicians across the board have been dropping the ball because Fermi II has been there for decades. He is thankful nothing has ever happened but worries who would take the blame if an accident were to occur.

“It has to go up the food chain at some point but if it did we’re not ready and who’s fault is it? It has to go up the food chain at some point and these people have not been doing their job properly,” said Lavigne.

“It’s been fantastic having these two gentlemen (Fire Chief Montone and Deputy Fire Chief Tome) come on board with our organization because they’ve really shown us what is lacking for our residents and helping us get it back on track,” said Lavigne.

Residents of the town are not too stressed about the plant and have confidence with the town’s ability to deal with the matter.

“I’m fairly confident I would say,” said Wayne Durham, a 67-year-old a resident of Amherstburg living on the outskirts of the town. “I really never even think about it being there, it’s not something I lose sleep over. It could happen I’m sure but I don’t believe it to be all that likely. There’s a lot measures in place to shut those things down if things do go wrong.”

As the new year approaches, Montone looks forward to progressing talks with Minister Lalonde and finding a way to financially support the town in case of a nuclear mishap.