Review of Yellowhead County wildfire response calls for more planning, provincial support

If every firefighter in Alberta had been working in Yellowhead County during the height of the 2023 wildfires, it still wouldn't have been enough to manage the threat to homes and communities.

That's one of the observations reported as part of a third-party independent review of the emergency response to flooding and unprecedented wildfires that plagued the west-central Alberta county last spring. 

The 79-page report by consultancy company 9Zero Solutions was published by the county last month.

It makes dozens of recommendations related to everything from the operational and emergency management and response to social services, the role of the province and Alberta Wildfire to mental health and community education and communication.

The county, composed of hundreds of farms and rural communities, has a population of about 10,400 spread across more than 22,000 square kilometres.

Of the 719 county residents who responded to the report authors' survey, 678 were under an evacuation order at least once during spring 2023. Of those, 220 chose not to evacuate.

"[The county] is philosophically inclined to less government and more grass roots initiatives. Many residents expressed their choice to live in the community was based on this freedom. This created a situation where many felt resentment towards officials for being told what to do," the report states.

The report found that in addition to many residents being unwilling to abandon their livestock, evacuation efforts were also stymied by unclear information about evacuation boundaries and where people were supposed to go, as well as time challenges and a lack of trust that properties would be adequately protected.

As the wildfires raged on, the report found that county staff and local fire crews were overwhelmed and unable to keep up. 

"We were stretched so thin throughout the fires, and then we went right on into the flooding . . . we were under state and local emergency for I think 63 or 64 days," Yellowhead County Mayor Wade Williams said in an interview late last month. 

The report recommends the county train all staff to take on emergency response roles, that they recruit more volunteers to the county fire department, and that emergency plans and strategies be developed.

Williams said county council and staff are still reviewing the report and considering what changes do and don't make sense to implement.

Still, he believes county staff went above and beyond in the midst of a challenging and evolving emergency.

"You don't know where fires are going to start and what areas are going to be jeopardized. So it's really tough to be proactive," he said.