Escalating Fire Risk Re-news First Nation's Preparedness Programs

ESI has been fortunate over the past 3 years to have partnered with 3 First Nation's organizations, that represent 22 individual but supporting communities. Like all resiliency projects we focus first upon community risk and then start refining capability based upon prioritized risk scenarios. Through the risk assessment process it was clear that our team, although well experienced, was learning a great deal from the First Nations Community Leaders and Elders. 

Two of the strengths we have encountered in our process have been 1) the high level knowledge and preparedness in relation to community members who would need assistance in a time of emergency and 2) traditional knowledge and practices which have been passed on through generations to ensure community risk prevention and citizen safety.

Community Connection with Citizens at Risk

I am keenly aware of the challenges in looking after community members during an emergency like a long duration power outage in winter or evacuation. I watched at times as our Municipal EOC or Incident Command Post chased the wave during these types of incidents in relation to folks with home oxygen units, elders who were evacuated suddenly and the numerous "people" issues our team had to deal with. What we are seeing time and time again in our work is the excellent preparation done in First Nations Communities by Leaders, Elders, Emergency Managers, Health Care Professionals, Building Managers and Volunteers who on a daily basis, serve community members that are at risk in their homes. As this service is being conducted, there are high resolution outcomes of humans linked to civic addresses providing decision making knowledge about who would have to be cared for in higher risk scenarios like a sudden evacuation. During a recent table-top exercise I questioned a First Nations Emergency Operations Centre Manager: “Approximately how many vulnerable people do you think your team will have to assist directly during the evacuation?” without even blinking he stated “269”. I pushed deeper “do you know these 269 persons by civic address?” “Of course…” he answered “…we already look after them on a regular basis”. When asked to explain he spoke of walkway shovelling, young people administering meals on wheels, counselling and on and on. "Our people know them all personally, we have to be ready" he explained.

Traditional Indigenous Preparedness and Education

The other area where our team is learning from these communities who have managed risk for time immemorial, is the understanding of the environment and sustained education of youth around lessons learned over generations. Preparing and educating for climate change risk scenarios like flooding and wildland interface fires is intuitive and based upon centuries of lessons learned, as well as a keen understanding of nature. Conversely, I recall a year in my home-town of Saint John New Brunswick, which is large geographically (126 Sq Miles) with significant wildland urban interface; there was 654 grass and brush fires most of them set. It became my responsibility to develop an integrated educational program in high-risk areas for our school children. The challenges associated with bringing these hundreds of set fires down were daunting…including opposition from within the fire service and school system itself. Indigenous peoples are keenly aware of disaster risk. Elders have been taught as children to read the signs in the sea, the forest, the skies and wildlife to predict and prevent risk. Direct experience with disasters has taught many communities the duration, location, time, frequency, intensity, predictability of incidents that would put citizens in harms way or result in an evacuation. Traditional knowledge for disaster risk reduction lies in the accumulated experience that comes from centuries of lessons that were learned and communicated consistently through generations. Conversely, I have noted non-First Nations communities and government which fail to adopt what we call “Lessons To Be Learned”…the "To Be" is not removed until they have been demonstrated to have been put into a sustainable program (ie CSA. Z-1600/ NFPA 1600) and validated through exercise. 

Wisdom of Elders and Early Warning

Its not just our North American Indigenous peoples who have refined their emergency management preparedness and prevention. There is a tribe of nomads who travel the southern seas around Thailand and Myanmar area. The tribe, often called “the Moken” may spend months at sea travelling, bartering and exploring. The Moken tell the “legend on the seven waves” through which there is a transfer knowledge of Tsunamis from Elders to the young leaders

When the December 2004 tsunami was about to strike the coast of Thailand, The Moken drew upon this knowledge to warn tourists and others of the oncoming wave. Similarly, the local knowledge of the indigenous tribes of Andaman Islands taught them that if the sea starts to recede, then they should also recede. This knowledge was instrumental in saving their lives, while many tourists drowned as they moved towards the receding sea like moths to a flame.

In India, traditional Elders understand the direction and feel of the wind in relation to predicting oncoming drought. As a result of this wisdom, Elders advise farmers regarding the pattern and directionality of crops to protect them.

The Japanese government continues to use traditional stories to spread awareness of the need for preparedness against tsunamis. Elders tell of community wells going dry as a pre-cursor for severe earthquakes and tsunami’s; a standardized level of higher ground is passed down to children who are taught to move quickly to following the earthquake. Centuries ago villagers, followed a successfully managed tsunami by charting the level of surge and built and maintained a protective embankment for the next one, centuries later, including the 1946 Showa Nankai earthquake which triggered a 4 meter tsunami.

I consider myself so fortunate to have gone through a career spanning decades and to have continually had opportunities to learn through the wisdom of amazing leaders. I believe that there is a tremendous amount of work to do in the field of Emergency Management in North America. Further, the interoperability between adjoining communities is not what it should be. I believe that there are significant opportunities to build better relationships through the medium of our emergency management fundamentals of joint risk assessment, planning, training and validation. Often times these opportunities are overlooked and we are faced with building relationships in the midst of the response phase, which is never ideal and much more expensive. It is our hope to continue to learn from the wisdom of community leaders and Elders, chart outcomes and to assist as a catalyst to build the necessary relationships for communities to support other communities at a level commensurate with combined risk.

Further, as it relates to the renewed focus on our preparedness around the increasing risk of Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Fires, I am excited about the efforts and programs of FireSmart™ Canada . Our team has worked with 3 #FirstNations communities with assistance from Indigenous Services Canada | Services aux Autochtones Canada on FireSmart projects and they are a tremendous foundation not just for WUI risk but an all hazard risk assessment under #NFPA 1300 and informed evacuation planning. In these "boots on the ground" 360 view of tactical community risk, our team adds a certified Fire Inspector for the Critical Infrastructure assessments and to pick up on other non-FireSmart safety and code issues.

Thanks for your feedback and discussion around previous Articles, if you have time please share and post a comment if you have similar experiences or would like to express differing viewpoints.

Through Training We Remember, Mark Gillan

#SecureResilientCompetitive #BeStrongerThanBefore