YELLOWKNIFE (May 5, 2015) – A report on the review of 2014 Fire Season Review was released today by Minister of Environment and Natural Resources J. Michael Miltenberger.

“The extraordinary extent of the 2014 fire season, with 385 fires, $56.1 million in cost and impacts on about 3.4 million hectares of forest resource, warranted a thorough review to determine lessons learned and identify areas where improvements can be made to our fire operations policies, practices and procedures,” said Miltenberger.

Key lessons and areas for improvement were identified and grouped into six themes: public engagement, safety, human resources, fire management strategy/policy, operations, and procurement and financial resources. Task teams were established to provide further analysis and identify actions to be completed this year in the three priority areas of safety, public engagement and human resources.

The review resulted in 27 key actions and associated timelines the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) will follow to make on-going operation improvements and address lessons learned from the 2104 fire season.

“While we responded effectively to the challenges of a difficult fire season with no serious injuries or fatalities to firefighters, residents or visitors,” added the Minister, “we recognize the need to constantly improve our operations to meet our mandate of protection of human life, property, natural and cultural resources from wildfire.”

A copy of the 2014 Fire Season Review Report can be found here. 

Media inquiries:

Roya Grinsted
Cabinet Communications
Government of the NWT
Tel: 867-669-2308
Email: roya_grinsted@gov.nt.ca