Where there’s smoke, there’s no real fire at Pearson Airport in Mississauga, Ontario
Published April 22, 2024 at 12:57 pm
Officials at Pearson Airport in Mississauga seem to believe strongly that practice makes perfect — especially where safety and emergency response are concerned.
For the second time in three weeks, Canada’s biggest and busiest airport is conducting a realistic fire emergency training exercise, one of several held throughout the year on airport grounds.
Once again, officials with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, which runs Pearson, reassure people that any smoke they spot in the sky over the airport today is not from a real fire.
In a post to social media on Monday, Pearson officials said the training drill runs until about 4 p.m. today and “as a result, you may see plumes of smoke coming from where this training is being held.”
The drill is again being conducted by the Fire and Emergency Services Training Institute, a private college located on Courtneypark Drive East in Mississauga, just steps from Pearson.
FESTI is also part of the GTAA’s fire department, Pearson officials note. The emergency training organization has three fire stations and its own fire chief.
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In addition to firefighting training sessions such as the one taking place today, Pearson conducts other exercises each year that include additional first responders (police and paramedics) and other partners.
Among them is a full-scale disaster training session that takes place once a year and involves hundreds of volunteers playing different roles as part of a simulated plane crash or other emergency situation requiring a wide-ranging response.
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