City of Yellowknife has new plans for emergencies and evacuations

New plans follow after-action assessment of city’s response to 2023 wildfire and evacuation

A year after 2023’s unprecedented wildfire evacuation ended in Yellowknife, the city has released an updated community emergency plan, and a new evacuation plan.

The two documents were made public on Tuesday, and are intended to guide the City of Yellowknife’s approach to emergency or disaster management. That includes things like catastrophic wildfires, but also other potential risks such as floods, power failures, and telecommunications disruptions.

In a news release, the city says the plans “build on emergency management best practices, engagement with stakeholders, and draw on the recommendations from the KPMG After-Action Assessment of the 2023 Wildfire Response.”

That report from KPMG was presented to the city in July. It included 26 recommendations having to do with co-ordination, public communications, vulnerable populations, emergency operations and evacuation planning.

KPMG found, among other things, that a lack of co-ordinated and clear communications from both the city and the N.W.T. government during the 2023 wildfire emergency led to “significant confusion and stress” for the community. It also found the city did not have a detailed plan for a mass evacuation — a plan KPMG said should have been communicated to the public in advance.

It also found the city and the territory’s plans didn’t adequately address the needs of vulnerable people, and the evacuation had “many negative consequences” for them.

The city’s new 44-page community emergency plan replaces an earlier, and shorter, 17-page emergency management plan and “accounts for the lessons learned and subsequent recommendations from the 2023 wildfire season,” it reads.

The plan outlines procedures and best practices for the city to prepare for, respond to and recover from an emergency or disaster. It outlines who is responsible for different aspects of emergency management at the city, and how the city will work with different territorial departments and other external organizations during an emergency.

It includes guidance for vulnerable populations and elders, as well as steps that would be taken to improve safety and communication during an evacuation.

The plan is meant to be a “living document,” it reads, subject to review at least every five years. It will also be reviewed after any emergency in which the plan is implemented, “to make any necessary improvements or updates.”

The plan also draws on a report from earlier this year looking at the territory’s vulnerability to different emergencies or disasters. The Northwest Territories Hazard Identification Risk Assessment, released in March, ranks a number of hazards by how likely they are to affect the territory, and how serious the threat might be.

It lists floods and wildfires as the highest-risk hazards throughout the territory.

“Both hazards are also expected to increase in frequency and severity due to climate change, causing more extensive damage to communities in the future,” the hazard assessment report reads.

Among the medium-risk hazards considered in the report are power outages, road closures, extreme weather, and hazardous material spills. Earthquakes and space debris pose “negligible” risks to the territory.

Evacuation plan a ‘companion document’

The city’s new 45-page evacuation plan is meant to be a “companion document” to the emergency plan. It outlines the “structure and framework” for how to manage partial or full evacuations of the city.

“Although there are many commonalities across evacuations and response efforts, each scenario will present unique considerations, resource needs, and operational tasks,” the report reads.

“Therefore, this plan is intended to serve as general guidance for the management of evacuations, rather than a definitive process that cannot be deviated from during an emergency.”