Close to 30 volunteers from Emerson-Franklin municipality took part in an emergency training session last week in Rosa.

The training exercises focused on evacuation situations and how to deal with those kinds of incidents.

Emerson-Franklin municipal emergency coordinator Bill Spanjer says teamwork will be key to their success in an emergency.

"We set up this training course specifically for reception and registration of evacuees and we utilized the training officer from Manitoba Emergency Measures who came down and assisted us in this training," said Emerson-Franklin municipal emergency coordinator Bill Spanjer.

The training exercise also facilitated efforts to create a second team of volunteers that will deal with emergency evacuation situations in the east part of the municipality where the Rosa community hall would be used as an evacuation reception centre.

"We had a team already established in the west part of the municipality in Emerson, so now the municipality has two teams set up in opposite ends of the municipality including facilities to handle whatever situation comes up."

Spanjer adds volunteers can be a valuable asset because they are very knowledgeable about the area and are able to pick up on things that may have been overlooked. He says it's all part of the process of using local people and it works very well.