Well, it was more than wind’s fault after all, when a female firefighter team’s prescribed burn raged out of control after jumping a predetermined boundary near Banff townsite on May 3.An initially chaotic response, confusion over chain of command, equipment failure, lack of fire-line experience, inadequate evacuation planning and insufficient operational briefings contributed to the prescribed burn gone awry in Compound Meadows.So concluded an independent after-action review (ARR) by Sayta Inc. into the prescribed burn carried out by Parks Canada and Canada’s first-ever Women-in-Fire Training Exchange (WTREX), to promote “diversity and inclusion” with female and non-binary participants.“The lack of fire-line experience of some personnel made them a risk to themselves and others on the fire line," concluded the review.“The incident response was initially chaotic until the Incident Command Structure was reorganized to deal with the excursion.”“There was a lack of a proper chain of command, preparedness and clear communication among the response resources during the evacuation of nearby facilities.”And, during a WTREX media event, requests to turn off fire pumps delayed deployment of structure protection equipment at nearby facilities causing delays in implementation and testing.The blaze spread during blacklining operations — pre-burning grasses — in preparation for a May 5 main burn. Some 21 hectares were burned, including three hectares beyond the planned 82.2-hectare burn. On May 7, Parks Canada announced the fire was under control, but for a few hotspots.Parks Canada blamed a shift in the direction of the 10 km/h wind that picked up and reached a 28 km/h speed on that mid-20C day when the fire danger rating was high.“The one thing we cannot control is the weather,” incident commander Jane Park, told CTV News at the time.Park also told Postmedia the WTREX team handling the fire was “the cream of the crop” and thanks to them “everything got under wraps pretty quick.”Firefighting experts said it was poor judgement to do live burn exercises in a windy, dry environment — during fire season while nearly 100 fires were being battled and Alberta was in a declared state of emergency.The ARR, acknowledged the wind factor, but cited numerous problems.The ARR concluded there was a “lack of information” about lessons learned from other WTREX-prescribed fire events.”“During the excursion, safety training of personnel was disregarded for tactical operations at multiple levels (e.g. lack of consideration for LACES — Lookouts, Anchor Points, Communications, Escape Routes, and Safety Zones system; unity of command; chain of command) resulting in personnel not being aware of their position and chain of command.”It determined a failure to properly communicate with the public; failure to provide non-local assisting personnel with weather and geographical information on the area; and inadequate operational briefings for personnel assigned to tasks such as structure protection and holding.Communications were hampered by radios that didn’t work properly, people didn’t know how to use them, some batteries were dead and there was an inability to communicate across agencies. The ARR recommended equipment be tested and operations training offered, prior to launching burn operations.There was a lack of a proper chain of command, preparedness and clear communication among the response resources during the evacuation of nearby facilities. Civilians present where operations were taking place faced increased risks.Included among many recommendations in the review was a call for better evacuation planning, ensured access to water for ground crews and utilizing fire weather specialists leading up to and during a prescribed burn.“Parks Canada accepts the third-party report’s recommendations and is initiating necessary changes to its processes for future fire operations,” said the agency in a statement accompanying the review it called for.Parks Canada said there’s “always risk” of a prescribed burn escaping and there are “contingency resources and plans” to minimize impacts.“Prescribed fires are complex operations that can require several years of preparation and take place only under specific predetermined conditions,” it said. “While every effort is made to prevent prescribed fires from escaping, there is always risk.”Parks Canada said contingency resources and plans were in place that included an outline of the goals for the fire, a review of the local weather and environmental conditions and resources needed to do the work.“Parks Canada commends the planning, swift response and professionalism displayed by fire management personnel.”The report is a what-not-to-do guide for future teams to avoid another massive screwup. The ARR didn’t “grade success or failure” or “assign blame.”But Parks Canada wagged a blaming finger at media and online comments about the all-female team.“Parks Canada continues to reject these hateful comments and false assumptions,” said the statement.Of course, hateful comments are unacceptable. What false assumptions? They were female. Parks Canada made a to-do about the WTREX event. The review proves things were badly handled — female or not.“There will never be room in Parks Canada for the intolerance and misogyny expressed by certain individuals throughout this unprecedented fire season.”Yet Parks Canada appears tolerant of whoever is responsible for mistakes made, simply chalking it up to a learning lesson.It did put out a May 7 press release “to extend sincere condolences” to community members whose infrastructure and personal items” went up in flames.No people or livestock were injured. The fire caused damage to property, wildlife, temporary evacuations, traffic disruptions, far-travelling billows of smoke hurting air quality. Banff was placed on alert.Resources — area fire departments, the RCMP, Alberta Wildlife, Alpine helicopters, Bighorn Helicopters, a towing company, contractors, certified firefighters from wildland fire agencies — were called in to respond or placed on standby.AAR recommended a review of public information plans to make sure there are crisis communication protocols and processes, including clarity around any changes in emergency processes and approvals.The report said prescribed burn plans should include a process to ensure facilities adjacent to the burn area have emergency evacuation and response plans in place and consider pre-emptive evacuations of livestock in areas adjacent to a burn.After the fact, some participants said there was confusion during the incident about roles of groups and individuals. And Parks Canada senior leadership lacked accountability.The ARR also concluded the burn plan was “clear and outlined specific objectives,” and the response to the fire was “well-managed.” WTREX is a training exchange combining practical live-fire training with indoor learning and discussion to advance qualifications and experience in wildland fire operations.“WTREX is an opportunity to engage participants of all genders, ethnic and racial backgrounds to explore the growing role of women in fire management while also serving as a training opportunity to enhance their understanding of Incident Command System, fire ecology, communications and outreach, leadership, prescribed fire planning and more.”
