Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have come a long way from being a use for the military, or a kid's toy. UAVs have become a use in everyday life, some examples of their use can be seen in the emergency response community where they are used for assessing emergency situations involving hazardous materials spills, industry fires, searching for missing persons, and impacts on a community after flash flooding, tornados, and earthquakes. This session will include presentations on how UAVs are being used today by both industry and government partners.

With a significant number of Indigenous/Tribal Communities owning land or having traditional territory located on or adjacent to energy infrastructure, there has been a marked increase in Indigenous/Tribal interest in emergency response planning. Such communities can find themselves on the front lines of oil spill emergencies. Indigenous and non-Indigenous speakers will highlight initiatives and partnerships in the Canadian and U.S. energy industry aimed at furthering response planning in collaboration with Indigenous Communities. Examples include enhancements to emergency management programs, combined field response exercises, ICS training, and geographic response planning.

The Response Case Studies session will use real life emergency response and remediation events to demonstrate lessons learned in the field while responding to emergencies. Attendees in this session will hear from responders directly involved in the responses.

This session will highlight hazard-specific special and unique response procedures, notifications, protective actions, emergency public information, and other best practices for unique hazards.