How to convert the Essar Centre into a 50-person shelter (9 photos)

Local first responders and emergency services were showcased in the parking lot of Walmart for Emergency Preparedness Showcase on Saturday.

The Red Cross’s disaster relief trailer

Local members of the Canadian Red Cross Society brought out a 'disaster relief trailer' to Saturday's event.

Disaster Management Coordinator Jennifer MacDonald explained how the trailers could be used if an incident like a large-scale disaster occurs in the Sault.

The Red Cross works with municipalities across Canada to pre-select shelter sites.

In the Sault, those sites are Essar Centre, Superior Heights Collegiate and Vocational School, St. Mary’s College, and the George Leach Centre.

Everything else they need in an emergency situation is in the trailers.

Each trailer has enough cots, blankets, chairs, lighting, signage, and even pencils and paper to support a temporary 50-person shelter.

It's part of the Red Cross’ plan to provide basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing to those affected by disasters.

This year, the local Red Cross helped 1,200 evacuees affected by the flooding in Kashechewan First Nation and they may soon be sending local volunteers to help with disaster relief efforts in Gatineau.

MacDonald said that the Red Cross is pushing to find more Emergency Response Volunteers right now, and if anyone is interested to please contact them.

The radio club’s portable TV station

Roland ‘Rollie’ Jubinville of the Algoma Amateur Radio Club brought out his portable TV station to Saturday's event.

Jubinville broadcasts from the trailer or with his home equipment one or two times a week.

The programming is usually just the club’s meetings but he can broadcast a video signal throughout the whole city, or even further depending on how much power he uses and what kind of equipment the receiver has.

The club’s educational director Bruce Lenton showed off a computer-language-based radio operating system called PSK31.

Using a computer, text and other information is encoded into a sound signal which can then be broadcast using radio signals.

This system effectively turns old-fashioned radio into an Internet-like system which, although not as fast, is independent of the types of high-maintenance and expensive infrastructure most communications systems require.

Should a large-scale disaster occur, operators like the radio club may be the ones who make sure communications work efficiently.

“When everything else goes down we can still operate,” said Lenton.

If anyone wants to take a radio operator’s course, or has an old TV with a pair of rabbit ears and wants to watch Jubinville’s show, contact the club.

PUC’s Ford Ranger covered in electrical wires

The Public Utilities Commission had a rather large visual display on Saturday.

They took an old electrical pole from their “old pole pile” (apparently they have one), strung it up with some cables, and held it up with one of their boom trucks.

They took one of their Ford Ranger pickup trucks and made it look like it had crashed into the pole to highlight the dangers of electricity in a car accident.

“If you’re in an accident with a power line, stay in your vehicle until the fire department or the PUC gets there and says its safe to get out because the downed lines could have dangerously energized the ground,” said Ryan Palahnuk, a 20-year veteran power lineman with PUC.

The PUC also brought out their ‘Hazard Hamlet’, a tiny model village that lights up and makes sounds showing kids the dangers of electricity.