Clear Sky Consulting

Helping Communities and Organizations Build Resilience

Our communities are being impacted by climate change, changing land use and aging infrastructure leading to emergencies that happen with more frequency and severity than ever before. Fortunately, Clear Sky Consulting has the experience, knowledge and tools to mitigate, manage and reduce the effects of these hazards, ensuring your community has effective systems in place to minimize potential harm and build resilience.

Your Community Comes First

Who We Are

About Clear Sky Consulting

With over 25 years of public safety experience, Clear Sky Consulting is well-equipped to assist with your emergency management planning, preparedness, response and recovery capabilities. We work with municipal and provincial governments, First Nations, nonprofits and other organizations to help you prepare for, manage and recover from emergency events. We lead highly effective, inclusive teams that provide robust support for clients with collaboration, insight and professionalism. Working with us will help to ensure emergencies and disasters are handled with care, empathy and expertise.

Projects undertaken by Clear Sky Consulting must provide more than financial benefit and have a net-positive effect on the organizations and individuals involved. As such, we undertake each project with two underlying principles:

(1) Emergency management planning directly increases the resilience of the communities involved, and value is maximized with direct input and local involvement from those affected by the project.

(2) Emergency managers, responders and organizational staff and volunteers who manage these programs must receive significant value, even beyond the completion of the project. Emergency management is stressful, and can take a significant toll on the mental and physical health of these individuals — we will strive to support them in any way we can.

Ask Us How We Can Help You Build Resilience in the Face of Future Emergencies

“I acknowledge and respect that I live, work and am in relation with the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Ktunaxa, Syilx and Sinixt Nations. I was born on Nakoda Sioux traditional territory in what is now known as Northern Alberta, where I met my wife, Nicole. We relocated from Edmonton to our current home at the foot of the Selkirk Mountains in Warfield, drawn to the area’s close connection to nature as avid hikers, bikers and skiers. I appreciate the care the First Nations, who have called this land home since time immemorial, have shown the area, I acknowledge the harm that colonization has brought to Indigenous Nations on this land, and I seek to understand, reconcile and build relationships with those who were here first. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to live and raise my daughter on these lands.”

—Chris Marsh

A white man in a dark grey shirt smiles at the camera

About Chris

Chris Marsh is an emergency management professional with over 25 years of public service and public safety experience. He founded Clear Sky Consulting in July of 2020 with the intent of supporting rural communities and First Nations across Western Canada in their emergency management planning.

Prior to starting his own business, Chris spent 3 years as the Manager of Emergency Programs with the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary, 14 years with the Ministry of Environment and Emergency Management BC and over 25 years with various fire departments across Western Canada. Throughout this time, Chris led organizations through many emergency events, including wildfire evacuations, hazardous materials spills, landslides, severe weather events and multiple flooding emergencies. Chris was also a key member of the Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Temporary Emergency Assignment Management System (TEAMS) for almost 10 years.

Chris knows how to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best.

What We Do

We want to help build resilience by providing emergency management planning specific to vulnerable communities across Western Canada and fostering professional relationships that exist beyond the submission of a final report. By taking the time to form relationships and collaborate with our clients, we can apply their input to each project so that our proposals and project deliverables directly benefit the communities and emergency managers we work with.

Hazard, Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (HRVA)

The HRVA is intended to inform communities regarding hazards and risks from which they can make risk-based decisions related to identified vulnerabilities. It is a key foundational component of any holistic emergency management program and will include recommendations and solutions for preventing or mitigating hazards; appropriately preparing for, responding to and recovering from disasters and emergencies; and maintaining continuity of organizational operations.

Emergency Management Planning

Experience, empathy, expertise and empowerment all contribute to highly effective, high-functioning project teams that bring significant value to emergency management requirements. Our Emergency Management Planning services approach communities holistically, and tailor recommendations to their specific environment, resources and needs. Plans are customized according to the specific nature of each community or organization, and we work hard to ensure our plans are immediately useful in an emergency.

Areas of support:

Emergency plan reviews, audits, development and refinement
Evacuation route planning
Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) facility and operational development, advisement, audits and enhancement
Development of EOC operational plans and quick start guides
Emergency event investigation, research, policy development and recommendations
Strategic emergency program assessment and guidance

Emergency Response & Recovery Services

Every community has its own unique situations and challenges that can cause complications when faced with an emergency event. We work with clients to identify, evaluate and make recommendations for any hazards, risks or vulnerabilities their community may face.

Areas of support:

Pandemic Support, including the development of plans, procedures and systems to keep staff and clients safe and organizations operational
Flood Planning, including the development of flood response plans, incident action plans and onsite flood emergency response and management
Incident Response, including acting within an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in any capacity
Disaster Recovery Plans, including development of disaster recovery plans, disaster recovery teams, leading disaster recovery and disaster recovery pre-planning
After Action Reviews analyzing incident response and recovery, and providing collaborative feedback following disaster response, training sessions and other events

Emergency Management Training and Exercises

We work with clients to develop training and exercise plans for emergency management staff and volunteers. We can work together to inform, educate and care for community members both in their work, and in the self-care and mental health work crucial to longevity and resilience in the field.

Let’s Build Resilience Together

Affiliations & Partnerships

Clear Sky Consulting is a proud member of the Strategic Alliance For Enhanced Resilience (SAFER) Network, a consortium of consultants and experts collaborating on and creating teams that provide customized safety-related services and plans in a number of fields.

When required, we partner with other consultants to form dynamic and responsive teams. These professionals and organizations help us undertake more complex projects while keeping overhead costs low. The groups include other emergency management consultants, flood and fire consultants, industry-specific experts, GIS consultants, engineering firms, mental health and social science professionals, and others.

Mental Health Pocket Guide

Working or volunteering within the emergency management industry comes with the potential for exposure to stress and trauma. This can have short- and long-term effects on those working in Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs) and with other disaster support systems that assist with emergencies. Our response to mental health strain should be met with compassion and taken as seriously as the crises occurring in our communities.

To assist those who are supporting our communities during disasters, Clear Sky partnered with a team of mental health and emergency management professionals to put together this Mental Health Pocket Guide. This resource aims to strengthen mental resilience and break down the stigma of talking openly about mental health. If you feel unsupported or are unsure about how to advocate for your mental wellbeing, or if you would like to take proactive steps for yourself and your colleagues, we invite you to lean on this guide — and take one step closer to getting the care you need.

Download the Mental Health Pocket Guide

Portfolio