Barring a sudden, unanticipated fluctuation in weather conditions, Yukon government officials aren’t bracing for a premature start to the 2024 wildfire season.

But they continue to stress the necessity of home owners around the territory being prepared for the worst during the coming summer.

“We are not seeing any possibility of an early, severe season,” Michael Smith, the chief meteorologist for Yukon Wildland Fire Management, told a media briefing Wednesday afternoon at the Jim Smith Building.

Most areas of the territory are reporting 90 to 100 per cent of normal precipitation levels, Smith said. “That is good news.”

Some northern regions have observed even more snow cover than usual measurements.

As well, unlike in parts of Alberta – where the fire season is underway – there are no 2023 fires known to be smouldering underground in the Yukon.

Forecasters are aware that temperatures are anticipated to be near normal for the rest of March and in April and May.

“As far as fires go, that is good news for us .... We are confident in saying it will be a normal start to the year,” Smith said.

However, he added, “In early March, we don’t have the abililty to make any accurate predition on what the summer will look like.”

Wildland Fire Management continues to assist communities around the territory formulate wildfire safety plans.

“We are quite happy with how those are going as well,” Smith said.

Meanwhile, homes whose owners have FireSmarted around them “are far easier to protect” than those with bush or trees growing close by, he pointed out.

“We will continue to work hard to keep Yukoners safe and informed,” he pledged.

Last year, Wildland Fire Management responded to about 200 fires that burned a collective 400,000 hectares of land. After a tranquil spring, hotter weather flamed and smoked things up through June and July.

Nationally and globally, firefighters had to deal with “a severe shortage of aerial resources,” including helicopters and pilots, Smith said. Territorial crews did have access to chopper services.

Work done from the air, he noted, “can be highly technical and, frankly, dangerous work.

“I want to recognize the job crews did last year.”

There will be 24 wildfire crews at bases situated across the territory this season, with 75 initial attack personnel.

Two air tanker groups will return, with two air attack officers – of whom there’s also a shortage across Canada – being trained. That takes three or four years before certification is earned.

Some instruction has been done over the winter, with much more to come beginning in mid to late April at the Whitehorse Cadet Camp at the Mary Lake subdivision.

Wildland Fire Management received 130 résumés during the first week of crew member recruitment, Smith said.

“We are trying to improve upon our employee retention,” he added. Some new positions are coming on stream as well.

Managers are cognizant of the “burnout” factor affecting some personnel, Smith said.

Such awareness can sometimes encourage them to summon help from other jurisdictions sooner than they may have in previous seasons.

“I do feel a bit more confident for the Yukon this year, specifically ... from what I hear, retention rate is quite high this year. We should have a lot of returning senior staff.”

As well, Smith said, “We are increasing our capacity this year and trying to incorporate lessons learned from last year.”

Some residents involved in last summer’s evacuations of Mayo and Old Crow, and in other areas where evacuation alerts were issued, had complaints about the calibre of communication they were receiving from government officials during their tense experiences.

At Wednesday’s briefing, Smith and Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn referenced inaccurate information that affected residents placed on social media sites.

Smith said his colleagues spent considerable time correcting misinformation that callers had received from neighbours.

“This (communications problems) is a constant I heard loud and clear, and is something that continues to be discussed in the communities,” Mostyn said.

Generally, he said, “We have more communications (methods) now than in the history of humanity, and we still don’t do it well.”

Officials strive to ensure people are connected with accurate information and instructions as soon as possible, he added, recognizing that “people’s life’s work is in the path of danger.”

During the human-caused Ibex Valley fire of July 2023, crew members knocked on the doors of affected residents, many of whom reside on large properties accessed by lengthy driveways. The safety of livestock was also a huge source of anxiety.

Despite best efforts, reporters were told, the government cannot expect to get ahead of the anxious, uninformed person with a cellphone who relays unfounded information to family members and friends.

Officials are assessing and learning from the August 2023 evacuation of Yellowknife in the face of a wildfire threat, Mostyn added. Some 22,000 residents were moved out of the Northwest Territories capital.

In the event of a similar Whitehorse emergency, the minister noted, city officials would be driving the major emergency planning measures.

But the government, Mostyn said, “is absolutely working with the city on emergency planning.”

Representatives of the two governments will stage a joint table-top disaster planning scenario in about six weeks.

Whitehorse came within a flame thrower’s distance of a mass evacuation in June 1991 as a stubborn wildfire devoured part of Haeckel Hill. A timely shift in wind patterns helped ease the emergency that summer weekend.

“Our fire seasons are changing,” said Mostyn, stressing the need for Yukoners to FireSmart their properties and keep their gas tanks full in case there’s a need for quick escape.

He also advises that kits with emergency provisions and vital documents be packed to simplify a quick escape from threatened premises.

“The seasons are starting earlier and are staying later,” Mostyn noted.

“We are getting prepared – and we need you to do the same. The change in climate means wildfire risk is now unpredictable, with the season extending into the autumn.”

Long-term work to circumvent the spread of wildfires has included expanding the major south-end firebreak in the Copper Haul Road area.