After a year of research and gathering data, an independent, third-party overview has been released discussing the 2023 wildfire season and the GNWT’s response.
The report shared its findings into how the situation was handled, and what improvements can be made by the government in the event of another emergency in the future. Some of the improvements that have been suggested are already being implemented by the Department of Environment and Climate Change, and the Wildfire Management Team in the NWT.
The findings from the review were organized into several key themes:
- Fire Behaviour Modelling
- Human Resources – Capacity
- Human Resource – Training and Skills Management
- Aviation Resources
- Equipment Management and Infrastructure
- Incident Command System Discipline
- Policy, Strategy, and Procedures
- Wildfire and Wildfire Response Information Sharing
- Coordination with Municipal Governments and Indigenous Governments
- Prevention and Community Protection
- Budgeting and Reporting Structure
Jay Macdonald, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, has said that he welcomes the findings of the after-action review.
“We have been steadily building upon previous years’ processes, procedures and preparedness, and will continue this work in our wildfire management program to continue to improve wildfire response in the future.”
Some of the recommendations found in the report are already being used throughout this year’s fire season. Fire crews and other seasonal wildfire management personnel were brought in earlier in the year to get a head start on fire prevention activities and to deal with overwinter fires. A Joint Information Committee was established early in the season to coordinate the provision of information across government during periods of elevated threat, responding to gaps which became clear in 2023.
Other improvements are constantly being made to how the GNWT responds to wildfires. Work will continue on implementing the changes suggested by the report.
