A two-day collaborative workshop aiming to help firefighters from the City of Yellowknife and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN) better prepare for wildfires in Dettah, was held last Thursday and Friday.
About 20 participants took part in the workshop that included members of the city's fire division as well as firefighters from YKDFN. There were also representatives from the city's public works and engineering and community services departments in attendance.
Simon Whitehouse/NNSL photo
The initiative came about after Yellowknife, Dettah and Ndilo received more than $176,000 in federal funding from the Climate Change Preparedness in the North Program (CCPNP).
The two-day event was intended to build training capacity between the municipality and the First Nation to fight wildfires that could directly advance on communities due to climate change.
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Political leaders also noted its significance in trying to build reconciliation between the municipality and local Dene.
City of Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty and Yellowknives Dene First Nation leaders – Ndilo Chief Ernest Betsina and Dettah Chief Ed Sangris – spoke briefly on Friday about the importance of the governments working closely on public safety and fire prevention.
"This is one of the opportunities that we have to work collaboratively together and this all stems from reconciliation with the city and that we work together to better the lives of the community," said Sangris. "By demonstrating what we can do together, it makes our members feel safer in all three communities. We are working to keep our community at the level of comfort that they expect."
Betsina said the partnership is a way to continually build fire prevention training among members and work with the city on a shared priority. He hopes that the relationship can be an example of how First Nations and municipalities can achieve common objectives, especially around public safety.
"This is great and it shows that both governments are working together and trying to keep our communities safe," he said. "It is important that we keep the skills up and keep the training going. You can never really get enough training. The more we do, the more effective that they can be."
Alty said in a prepared statement that the city wants to find as many ways as possible to show efforts of reconciliation through shared projects.
"I am encouraged to see this example of collaboration between communities to work on important projects to lower some of the risks from wildfire," she said. "This is one of our projects of reconciliation coming after our revised memorandum of understanding from last year. Wildfire is the greatest risk all of us face, so as mayor I am pleased to see (the city's) fire department, community services and public works work with the YKDFN to share and learn and build joint capacity to reduce risk to both of our communities."
Simon Whitehouse/NNSL photo
Guidance from Alberta
Albert Roach, owner of A.S. Roach Fire Services of Stony Plain, Alta., was the fire service consultant overseeing the two days of training. It involved showing participants how to use a sprinkler system to wet structures and familiarizing them with area fuel sources that spread fire.
He said the two days started out with a study of theory around wildfire sprinklers before examining the tests and pump equipment involved. Some evaluations were made on structures in Dettah to look at where sprinklers could be best positioned to prevent fires.
Friday was to involve participants setting up the sprinklers in a more hands-on setting to show how they work, he said. Friday afternoon was to involve testing pumps and water hose layouts on houses in Dettah to show how a sprinkler system can benefit the community.
"What we are doing is people will be working the equipment to try it and work with it and discover the proper way to set the sprinklers ... to get the job done and everything that goes with it," Roach said.