@NWT Fire

The N.W.T. government has developed new guidelines for managing wildfires in the territory, as it tries to reckon with the worsening impacts of climate change. The guidelines say they are the fruit of a “common mission”: improving “fire services and response … to protect the people we serve, the places they live, the critical infrastructure they rely on, and their social, cultural, and economic well-being.” They focus on wildland urban interfaces… In 2023, nearly two-thirds of the territory’s residents were forced to evacuate due to encroaching wildfires, including near Yellowknife. The evacuation forced a reckoning with emergency preparedness across the territory, as climate change makes forest fire seasons worse and harder to predict. The guidelines say the intended goal is to standardize training for local wildland firefighters, and establish standards around payment for services, deployment and management of resources, and techniques for use in the field.