Advertisement.
The NWT government has tweaked the way it arranges security for its wildfire crews and equipment ahead of the 2026 summer season.
Previously, the GNWT brought in security staff on an ad-hoc basis. Now, after recent busy seasons, the territory is putting in place a more concrete arrangement.
Called a standing offer agreement, the new approach – often used elsewhere in government – gives NWT Fire a group of pre-qualified firms to call on when it needs help.
The procurement process began earlier in the spring.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
While security may not be the first thing most people think of at the scene of wildfires, NWT Fire’s Mike Westwick said it was the equivalent of securing “an office that doesn’t have doors” where equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars can be stored.
“In Whatì last summer for example, when I rolled up with a trailer for structure protection stuff, that was probably about $450,000,” Westwick told Cabin Radio in a recent interview.
“You want to secure your assets – potentially over a long period of time, potentially in places that don’t have typical security in place.”
Westwick said equipment going missing was “not unheard of” in past operations.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Even so, security at wildfire sites used to be an occasional need at best.
In years prior to 2023’s summer of megafires, Westwick said, “you might require these services once or twice a summer.”
“Over the past number of summers,” he continued,” obviously we’ve had a lot of big incidents, and with that comes mobilizing an amount of personnel that’s comparable to – or even larger than – a number of our communities, in some cases. So naturally, it’s good practice to have security in place.
“This year, we identified the need and that it would be more effective – and serve the public best – if we went out for a request for proposals for standing offer agreements.”
The GNWT has not published a budget for those agreements.
The eventual cost, Westwick noted, will vary based on the number and type of fires.
For 2026, initial forecasts suggest a delayed start to the NWT’s season is likely but the period between June and August could see significant fire activity.
