'We've been through it before': Dene Tha' First Nation practiced evacuation years before recent wildfire

The Dene Tha' First Nation learned valuable lessons seven years ago as a wildfire approached their homes. Last week the community wasable to use that knowledge as another fire threatened the community.

Chief James Ahnassay admits the speed of the approaching Chuckegg Creek firecaught him off guard, but says the evacuation was successful.

"It's always a challenge with logistics of moving people, but we've been through it before," Ahnassay said.

Residents of Bushe River and Meander River, along with residents of High Level, evacuated their homes on the evening of May 20 as a wildfire moved within kilometres of their homes. The fire is now approximately 127,000 hectares in size, according to Alberta Wildfire.

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It was not the first time that residents would need to leave their homesa fire near Lutose, Alta. led to an evacuation to nearby High Levelin 2012. After that fire,Dene Tha' First Nation improved itsemergency preparedness.

In 2016, the community held its first evacuation exercise where volunteers went door to door and community members travelled in buses to a mock evacuation centre.

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The Dene Tha' First Nation has its own emergency management department and communities in the First Nation have their own evacuation plans.

Alberta has a federal funding agreement to provide emergency management training on First Nations.

In 2014, the First Nations Wildfire Evacuation Partnership researched the previous wildfire evacuation experience of the Dene Tha' First Nation. It focused on first nation communities in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario and ways to reduce the negative impacts of wildfire evacuations.

One of the recommendations wasto crafttransportation plans thatconsider residents withmobility issues and those that don't own vehicles. Other recommendations included prioritizing eldersand offering volunteer opportunities to evacuees during displacement.

"They had carried out quite extensive preparedness activities after our research," said Tara McGee, the partnership's academic lead. "So, they were very proactive in terms of making sure that their community was prepared for an evacuation. So certainly hoping that work that they put in helped them this time around."

Travis.mcewan@cbc.ca