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Emergency exercise to include simulated wildfire evacuations

The first neighbourhood evacuation plans for the city will be delivered during the upcoming Operation Nanook emergency exercise in Whitehorse, says Mayor Dan Curtis.

By Chuck Tobin on May 22, 2019

The first neighbourhood evacuation plans for the city will be delivered during the upcoming Operation Nanook emergency exercise in Whitehorse, says Mayor Dan Curtis.

Curtis explained in an interview Tuesday evening following the city council meeting the evacuation procedures are included in the city’s updated Emergency Plan that falls under one of six overriding priorities council adopted last night.

Emergency preparedness is one of the six. It includes everything from developing evacuation plans to wildfire response plans and emergency communications.

Curtis said the evacuation plans for the individual subdivisions will include information about travel routes and staging areas for residents to gather at.

Now in his third consecutive term on council, he said this is the most work the city has put into emergency planning.

In his years on council, Curtis said, he’s never seen this level of co-operation between government agencies.

Nor has he seen this level of concern about the possibility of the city facing a wildfire.

In the recent series of townhall meetings across the city, it was clear the threat of wildfires is a primary concern among residents, he said.

A hazardous analysis delivered to council last February described wildfires as the greatest risk the city faces.

Operation Nanook-Tatigiit (Together) will begin Monday in Whitehorse with a week of table top planning and training for emergency responders.

The second week will see a simulated wildfire.

The exercise will involve the city, the Yukon government and the Canadian Armed Forces. Operation Nanook exercises are held every year in one of the three territories.

This year’s emergency is a simulated response to a wildfire.

“The main scenario is a wildfire coming from the south between Carcross and Whitehorse, and this will result in the evacuation of Cowley Creek and Mary Lake,” city communication officer Myles Dolphin explained this morning.

“People are not being evacuated, but they will put themselves through the paces of what they would do if they were evacuated.”

Lt. Tammy Audet of the Canadian Armed Forces said this morning approximately 200 representatives of the forces will be participating in the emergency exercise, including members of the Canadian Rangers.

The mayor explained the six overriding priorities adopted by council are a product of discussions among the seven representatives elected in last October’s municipal election.

They’re a reflection of what the elected representatives were hearing during their campaigns, he said.

“We all kind of shared what we heard about, what we felt were priorities from our citizens,” he said. He suggested it’s not easy to boil discussions down to a consensus when you have seven people sitting in a room.

“You can’t have everything a number one priority.”

In addition to the six priorities, he also noted, city staff have a working list of 16 different initiatives involving many aspects of city affairs.

It is, he said, the most comprehensive list he’s seen since he’s been mayor.

The six priorities adopted by council are as follows:

• moving forward with the review of the Official Community Plan;

• emergency preparedness;

• continuing the consolidation of city buildings, including the construction of a new fire hall downtown;

• moving forward to make housing more attainable for city residents;

• developing a co-ordinated approach to manage the city’s assets; and

• preparing for the 2020 Arctic Winter Games.

In the description of the 16 department initiatives accompanying the six priorities, there’s an exhaustive list that includes everything from securing a new water licence for the city to looking at traffic hotspots.

There’s a lot going in, said Curtis.

There is, for instance, some good news coming up about the establishment of two new city parks, though he couldn’t say anymore about them last night.

Comments (6)

Up 0 Down 0

Wilf Carter on May 29, 2019 at 1:30 am

I have to laugh. Does the mayor want this to work because he is against putting any serious money into wild fire protection of our city? If anyone has experience on wild fires they know they can jump and come from many directions. Talking to Fort Mac that's what took place. I worked on Dork River fire in 1983 and it was four fires that grew into one. It was south of high level and towards BC border. One of the fires started in BC. City needs to do a lot of fire smarting which Fort Mac did not do. Whitehorse sits in a Valley with a lot fuel for fires and once it gets going it is hard to stop.

Up 5 Down 1

Groucho d'North on May 28, 2019 at 3:06 pm

I wonder if there are enough cattle trailers for all the livestock that will need to be coaxed into them (many for the first time) and relocated out of harm's way? It should make for an interesting rodeo.

Up 9 Down 2

Miles Canyon on May 26, 2019 at 9:48 pm

The mayor loves to talk without saying anything.
We should be careful and not believe the nonsense about the city planning for any type of emergency because they are just not capable.

Up 13 Down 1

Mr M on May 24, 2019 at 7:20 am

Good on the City, YG and the Armed Forces. Let's be prepared in case of a major wildfire. It could and will happen. Let's also learn from other jurisdictions that have had major wildfires.

Up 4 Down 4

My Opinion on May 24, 2019 at 1:21 am

I'll be away. Self evacuating to B.C. Haha.

Up 7 Down 2

Jayne W on May 23, 2019 at 9:26 am

The main scenario is a wildfire coming from the south between Carcross and Whitehorse, and this will result in the evacuation of Cowley Creek and Mary Lake,” city communication officer Myles Dolphin explained this morning.

“People are not being evacuated, but they will put themselves through the paces of what they would do if they were evacuated.”

I think the City should change the wording on what is happening that week. Pretty sure we are participating in an actual voluntary evacuation, so all the moving parts of this exercise can see what it would look like.

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