Grassroots emergency response support group in West Dawson, Yukon gains association status

The West Dawson Community Group provides emergency responses during months when services aren’t accessible

A grassroots volunteer group that provides emergency medical support to people living in West Dawson, Yukon has been granted association status by the Yukon Government.

During the winter months, access to emergency services for West Dawson residents can be limited, and sometimes non-existent, depending on whether or not the Yukon river fully freezes enough for an ice crossing to be constructed.

Between the time when the town’s ferry is pulled from the river and the time when a way across is made, the group of almost 25 West Dawson residents step up to respond to emergency calls and assist however they can until officials arrive.

David Curtis, the spokesperson for the West Dawson Community Group, said the newly acquired association status will strengthen its ability to help the community.

“It opens up new opportunities for us in terms of getting support,” Curtis said. “Funding, training, which we are really in need of for the group.”

Curtis said he only learned of the government’s decision a week ago, but he said the timing couldn’t be any better, as the town’s George Black Ferry is scheduled to be pulled from the Yukon River on Wednesday.

Curtis said he’s been in conversations with Dawson City’s fire chief to discuss how they could secure some equipment and training ahead of the ferry ceasing operations for the season.

“Fire chief Mike Masserey worked with an organization in Alberta to get a couple of fire fighting skids that fit in the back of pickup trucks, which contain a water tank, foam pumps,” Curtis told CBC News, “things like that that we desperately need over here.”

Curtis said his association has also been in discussions with other organizations including the Canadian Rangers and Yukon’s Emergency Medical Services to acquire medical kits, spine boards and defibrillators. He said he envisions eventually having a building constructed that can house all of the emergency equipment under one warm roof.

Curtis said for now, it’s time to form a board of directors and discuss what the association’s priorities are and the path forward to achieving them with the community.

“I mean people within communities, especially the rural communities in [the] Yukon, they know what their needs are, and they know what needs to be done,” Curtis said. “And I think when people sort of pick up the tools to actuate that themselves there’s this real sense of community pride but there’s also a sense of direct action and a focus that is there that may not be if you have to go through, say, more bureaucratic channels.”

The town’s fire chief, Mike Masserey, said he too is glad to see the group recognized by the territory. He said he’s been working to get resources over to West Dawson and hopes to see that continued with other government departments getting involved.

He said two skids of fire protection equipment are currently en route to Dawson City, and he’s hoping to get them over to the west side before the ferry is out. If it doesn’t happen, he’ll figure out some way to get them across the river.

“I know that they’re going to come here,” Masserey said. “Hopefully it’s before freeze-up because we can always get them later than sooner, but I would like to have them there before freeze-up so they can go across on the ferry, and then they have 1,000 gallons of water and two foam pumps.”

Masserey called the supplies, “Ideal for over there until something better is available.”

Related stories from around the North: 

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Norway: Smoke from Canadian wildfires forecast to reach Norway, The Associated Press

Russia: New NOAA report finds vast Siberian wildfires linked to Arctic warming, The Associated Press

Sweden: High risk of wildfires in many parts of Sweden, including North, Radio Sweden

United States: Wildfires in Anchorage? Climate change sparks disaster fears, The Associated Press