Red Deer County’s protective services department was recognized by the RCMP for the help it provided during the Waterton wildfire this year.

At a brief ceremony on Monday morning at the county office, Chief Supt. Tony Hamori, the RCMP’s district commander for southern Alberta presented assistant county manager Ric Henderson with a certificate of appreciation.

From Sept. 12-14, the county lent its command post to the RCMP’s Special Tactical Operation (STO) team, providing police a place to set up shop.

“In some of the locations where we go to, there’s not a lot of infrastructure left. A lot of people would have abandoned or evacuated,” said Insp. Kevin Kunetzki, who was on the ground in Waterton at the time.

“So having the ability to use mobile services allows us to set up and function appropriately with a command structure and a place for members to meet and go, from where tasks and missions, deployments can be given out from.”

The county also sent six people to provide logistical support: Henderson, Irv Heide, Dave Brand, Don Bell, Jamie Schur and Wayne Moulton.

All parties stressed the importance of having partnerships in times of disaster.

“We seem to be getting more and more involved with the natural disaster side of things. Alberta’s had quite a bit of experience in that the last few years with Slave Lake, Fort McMurray, Waterton, High River,” Hamori said.

“We’ve made extensive networks over the last few years with respect to our partners in emergency services.”