A wildfire forcing parts of the city to be evacuated, a collision on the Alaska Highway at Robert Service Way and a broken water main on Falcon Drive ....

It was all part of the mock disaster scenario city officials contended with Tuesday morning in a disaster planning exercise at city hall.

"This exercise was extremely relevant to Whitehorse and provided training that will help ensure authorities are ready and able to respond in the event of an emergency," city manager Dennis Shewfelt said in a statement following the exercise.

Beginning Monday, city staff were asked to imagine and react to a fire near Mount Sima. By noon Tuesday, they were informed the imaginary blaze was under control.

That all changed when they went to work Wednesday and learned it had jumped the fire break line and was heading toward Copper Ridge.

At a mock press conference outside city hall Wednesday morning, emergency planning consultant Pat Harkness and Shewfelt ran through the events that had Whitehorse declared in a "limited" state of emergency with homes in the McLean Lake area evacuated while residents of neighbourhoods in the Copper Ridge, Granger and McIntyre area were told to be ready for a potential evacuation.

"The winds are not co-operating at this stage," Shewfelt told reporters during the mock press conference.

Wildland Fire Management, the Whitehorse Fire Department and other volunteer firefighters from surrounding communities assisted in dealing with the blaze.

Meanwhile, the RCMP were on the scene of the collision, with that section of highway closed, and going door-to-door around McLean Lake to evacuate homes.

Residents in Copper Ridge prepared for a possible evacuation, but were also met with the closure of Falcon Drive from Diamond Way to North Star Drive with the water main break.

Drivers were encouraged to keep off the Alaska Highway. Residents facing evacuation were told they could go to their closest major intersection to catch a bus that would take them to the nearest shelter, as the regular transit system had been shut down to deal with the emergency.

Inside city hall, council chambers became the main operations centre for the emergency, with officials from other agencies - Yukon government departments like Wildland Fire Management and the RCMP and others - being part of the disaster practice.

Prior to going into a debriefing on the exercise, Harkness said overall he was pleased with how Wednesday morning's session went, with officials dealing with the imaginary emergency as though it were real.

"(They) got right into it," he said.

Along with some minor housekeeping issues that need to be dealt with, there needs to be some work done on communication, he said.

Following the debriefing, Harkness said in a statement: "While overall, the city enjoyed good success, there were some areas for improvement, including a need to increase the frequency of website updates in the event of an emergency."

As for wildfires near or in the city, Harkness said he believes Wildland Fire Management is equipped to deal with that, with the city now being better equipped to handle the impact the blaze could have on the community and its residents.

"I really believe the city has a greater appreciation for the situations (it may) need to deal with," he said.

The session was funded with a $14,000 grant from the federal government.