The company reviewing how the City of Yellowknife responded to last summer’s wildfires has shared its initial insights before releasing a final report.
KPMG is examining what the city did well and what could have been better before, during and after Yellowknife’s three-week evacuation in August and September 2023.
In a presentation to city councillors on Monday, the company said positives included the effort and resources the city provided to help build fire breaks and install sprinklers, as well as the call to request help from the territorial government, Canadian Armed Forces and a federal disaster response team when the city had limited capacity.
KPMG said the municipality also had a functional emergency operations centre and improved its communications and coordination during re-entry compared to the evacuation.
Where to improve? KPMG highlighted challenges coordinating with the NWT government and organizations that support vulnerable people, and a lack of clear, timely and adequate communication with the public.
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“It’s really important that both municipal and territorial governments work closely together,” the company said.
KPMG pointed to a lack of joint training and detailed collaborative evacuation planning, a lack of clarity on the roles and responsibilities of the two governments, and the absence of a system to track evacuees.
The unique needs of vulnerable people were not adequately considered, the company said, and nor were supports for pets. There was no process for the city to coordinate and ensure the safety of volunteers.
KPMG plans to release a final report with recommendations by the end of next month.
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City manager John Collin said he was “quite encouraged” by the presentation. Monday was his last day in the role after resigning two weeks into the job, with former city manager Sheila Bassi-Kellett due to take over again on an interim basis.
“There’s nothing on the list that is a surprise to administration,” Collin said.
“Almost all that is on the list, we are already working on in one way, shape or form.”
Collin said the city is developing an evacuation plan and community wildfire protection plan. Both are set to be released next month.
Staff are being trained on the incident command system, a new email notification system is in place, and Collin said the city will soon launch a webpage dedicated to emergency preparedness and response.
The city is also looking at acquiring a mobile sprinkler system.
“There’s still a lot of work to do and we look forward to the final report,” Mayor Rebecca Alty said.
At the territorial level, two reviews have been planned related to last year’s wildfire season.
The Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs released a request for proposals in February for a contractor to review the territory’s emergency response. According to the territory’s procurement website, bids for the contract are currently being reviewed. The final report is expected in November, after the 2024 wildfire season ends.
A contractor has begun a separate review of how the Department of Environment and Climate Change managed wildfires last year.
