Published on Tuesday, 22 July 2025 at 2:34:06 PM
The Town of Port Hedland has a pivotal role to play in an emergency - as a central agency, supporting emergency preparedness, response and acting as the Hazard Management Agency for community recovery.
Last week, we had a role to play as part of a simulated emergency response exercise run by the Port Hedland International Airport. The airport is required to test their emergency response, and they do that by running regular emergency exercises. A timely and effective response to an aviation emergency is critical to ensure lives can be saved, injuries reduced, and airport operations are maintained.
Town staff were on hand to participate, observe and collaborate with the service providers and partner agencies involved in the simulation exercise. The opportunity to come together quickly, work effectively, and provide incident support is vital to confirm how well the community is set up to respond to emergencies.
The simulation exercise scenario involved a plane, with 95 people on board, crash landing and catching fire on the runway. Emergency response included dealing with the fire, and with the casualties.
Supporting the airport’s initial response, multiple agencies were also activated to attend the incident including local and state service providers such as WA Country Health Service, Royal Flying Doctors, Department of Fire and Emergency and WA Police. Emergency assets from Rio Tinto, FMG and BHP also participated.
Michael Cuvalo, Manager Environmental, who oversees the Town’s emergency response, management and recovery, was an exercise observer at the airport exercise. “The skills on display as the emergency scenario unfolded showed that effective command of the incident, the swift response to the fiery situation and the care provided to the victims was superb. It was great to see the supporting agency responders, who quickly moved into the incident area and were able to integrate into the situation, amplify the response effort,” said Michael.
Observers from other shires such as the City of Karratha were also able to attend, to see how the emergency response unfolded, and take learnings back to their municipalities.
One of the Town’s core functions is to ensure the community is adequately prepared for emergencies. The Town also helps distribute essential emergency information to the community. You can read more about a recent Town initiative to assist the community access vital emergency information here.
“Port Hedland has a reputation for being a close, supportive community. Participating in the emergency exercise at the airport was yet another confirmation of how everyone can pull together quickly when required. It’s these types of strong relationships and partnerships, alongside comprehensive planning, that confirms to residents of Hedland that they can feel confident when a real emergency arises,” says Michael.
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