The Town of Huntsville will be applying to the Joint Emergency Preparedness Program (JEPP) to fund a large-scale mock disaster in 2009.

The proposal was first brought to the town’s safety and enforcement committee at their Oct. 10 meeting, when fire chief Steve Hernen presented the idea.

“(The last mock disaster) was a tabletop exercise and that was three years ago. We haven’t done a large-scale mock, if you will,” he told the committee on Oct. 10.

At the Oct. 31 safety committee meeting, Hernen said the town had been in contact with Emergency Management Ontario (EMO) chief Dan Hefkey, and that “he’s agreed to hold a provincial exercise in Muskoka in 2009.”

He continued, “They’ve indicated yes they will come up and play in a large-scale disaster to test the resources of the provincial government as well as any local governments that want to get involved, so we are pursuing that.”

Hernen explained that typically a JEPP application involves a 50/50 spending commitment between the program and the municipality or organization making the application.

However, in light of the upcoming 2010 G8 Summit being held at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Hernen said, “they’re willing to look at a different funding formula for us,” and that the town would be applying for a grant to cover 100 per cent of the cost.

He told the committee previously that the town’s portion of the cost could be anywhere from $8,000 to $10,000.

According to the EMO website, JEPP is a joint federal/provincial initiative started in 1980 “to establish a uniform level of emergency management across the country.”

Hernen told the committee that the town would be looking at an early fall date next year for the disaster, which would not interfere with the traditional busy tourist season and could even  provide a small boost to the local economy.

“It would be like bringing in a mini-convention to town,” he said.

Hernen added that once a framework for the mock disaster is established, local services and organizations such as the OPP and the hospital would be informed, letting them know about the incident and providing them an opportunity to get involved.

Last November, Parry Sound-Muskoka MP and then-health minister Tony Clement participated in a large-scale mock disaster in Toronto, where a bomb blast was simulated at a hotel.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s website, the mock disaster involved nearly 1,000 participants, observers and evaluators and was one of the largest exercises of its kind in Canadian history.