MLAs highlight use of traditional knowledge in N.W.T. firefighting efforts

While it's been done in the past, the N.W.T. won't be relying on staff in towers to detect fires on the landscape. 

That's according to Mike Gravel, the director of the N.W.T. government's forest management division. 

His comment was in response to Dehcho MLA Sheryl Yakeleya during a committee meeting Monday to discuss the Department of Environment and Climate Change's response to the 2023 wildfire season. 

Yakeleya said she'd like to see a return to the use of towers as a detection method. 

Gravel, however, said there's been an industry-wide shift away from the practice because of safety concerns.

"Fortunately in the Northwest Territories, we have not had serious accidents or fatalities," he said. "Not us, but in this industry, we've had tower people that were killed by bears at their sites. We've had people fall while climbing up the ladder and hanging there suspended in air. It's also with risk." 

He explained that wildfire detection is moving toward the use of technology, which is available "24/7." 

"Having people in remote sites is probably not a direction we're going to go towards that I can see," he said. "The way we hope to go with the technology is, every single town has cameras around them providing views of any potential fire." 

The question was part of a larger conversation around the use of Indigenous traditional knowledge in fighting fires and forest management. 

"Traditional knowledge plays a big role in how we fight fire in the Northwest Territories," said Jay Macdonald, minister of Environment and Climate Change. "Over the last number of years … it was noticeable that you could see we were starting to lose that traditional knowledge." 

That realization, he said, was especially apparent during the 2023 season when he said there were fewer experienced firefighters in the territory to rely upon. 

The after-action review report also highlighted how some staff served in roles for which they had insufficient training. 

Now, he said the department is working on additional training and knowledge-transfer for staff "to ensure that remains a strong part of the program." 

Monfwi MLA Jane Weyallon Armstrong said Indigenous communities are willing to help fight fires.