Effective collaboration may be a key to minimizing impacts of the growing wildfire season in Canada.
Wildfires have become a hot topic in Canada this year — and for good reason. Thousands of Canadians have been evacuated from their homes. Millions have experienced smoky skies and air quality advisories. More hectares of land in Canada were burned by mid-June than in any previous year since records began.
During the critical response phase of an ongoing wildfire emergency — where the fire is not considered contained — a wide range of resources and co-ordination is required. This includes monitoring, communications, evacuation, logistics and firefighting efforts. But two days later, the fire grew to a size and severity that prompted the evacuation of 88,000 people and the highest operational level of emergency response engaged.
As Canadians and policy makers engage in nationwide conversations and new plans on emergency response, our research offers three key lessons from the past that could shape a safer future.Working together with various emergency response teams is critical to the success of its management. An emergency manager from Alberta we interviewed stated that response happens at the “speed of trust,” where trust is assumed and second-guessing decisions is not an option. The only way to do that is to build relationships ahead of the emergency.Structured systems, like the Incident Command System , are used across Canada to help manage emergency incidents and planned events. These systems set out who does what, and how, in clear terms.
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