Silent Blaze is a two-part investigation by The Courier and CHCO-TV. This is Part II.
More than 19 months after a forest fire near Saint Andrews, an after-action report promised by the government is still not finished, according to the Department of Justice and Public Safety.
However, the department has confirmed to The Courier that it would release the report once it has been completed.
Kyle Leavitt, the director of the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization (NBEMO), said in an interview that these reports are done to help understand what happened during an event and what lessons were learned.
“Communication is always something that we can do better and making sure that we have the right connections to the right individuals,” he said. “The biggest thing for me was always trying to make sure that we understand who is on the ground because not all the time do you have the same people that you think is going to be there and when you don’t, being able to adapt and be able to connect, and be able to get the process going as quick as possible.”
Leavitt said communication is always an area the organization hopes to improve when it comes to emergency situations.
While a local government could ask, the only organizations in charge of issuing emergency alerts in New Brunswick are the RCMP and NBEMO – and all requests must go through them.
The Department of Justice and Public Safety did not provide The Courier with criteria about the issuing of Alert Ready messages in New Brunswick for the various situations that can arise here.
Leavitt said the alert is only issued if there is an imminent threat to life or limb.
The fire destroyed one home and burned more than 500 hectares. (Patrick Watt/CHCO-TV)
“Because of the intrusive nature of it, it really has to meet the criteria that there is an immediate danger – an imminent threat to life and limb,” Leavitt said. in an interview. “So, it has to meet that criteria. That’s why the local officials and authorities on the ground are best positioned to make that call. Once they determine (if) this meets that criteria, then we need to know where the zone is and we need to know what needs to be told to the listeners of the alert or the warning.”
An Alert Ready ready was never sent during the forest fire in May 2023 near Saint Andrews.
The RCMP does provide a rough outline for what it considers for the use of the Alert Ready system, including:
- emergent firearm/weapon related offences
- active shooter/immediate action rapid deployment (IARD) incidents
- terrorist attacks
- chemical/biological/radiological/nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) incidents with an established criminal nexus
- civil disobedience/rioting
- dangerous animal incidents
“During a significant incident, we continue to assess the situation to determine if an alert is appropriate, and that an alert would not place the public and/or responding emergency personnel at greater risk,” it said on its website. “Risk assessments during an incident are ongoing and, as more information is received or if the situation changes, an alert can be issued, updated or cancelled at any time.”
An Alert Ready message can be targeted to a specific geographical area, or even sent provincially or nationally, depending on the type of situation.
According to the documents obtained by CHCO-TV, the main form of communication about the fire was through social media, mainly Twitter (now known as X) and Facebook.
“We can always do better at how well we communicate and how we establish connections beforehand,” said Leavitt.
Kevin Quigley is a professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax who specializes in risk governance and critical infrastructure protection, focusing in particular on public sector responses to rare and high impact events.
Then-Premier Blaine Higgs and St. Croix MLA Kathy Bockus visited with firefighters during the blaze. (Patrick Watt/CHCO-TV)
Quigley said in an interview with The Courier that all disasters are different and the variables between them are considerable, including when the emergency happens, at what time, and whether this is common to the area.
“So, if you’re dealing with the kind of disaster that people are not as familiar with, then there are other kinds of risks,” he said.
For example, in the case of a hurricane, he said we usually have a 72-hour lead time, and we have become better at preparing for them and knowing what to do when one strikes.
Quigley said for areas where wildfires aren’t common, there are other jurisdictions to look to for advice and planning, to be better prepared for the future.
“If you’re talking about a rural community wildfires, this is something, if we’re not already kind of learning our lessons, we should be,” he said.
The professor said he believes New Brunswick’s emergency management team is very good, having known and learned from some of the top officials at NBEMO.
Single points of failure
Quigely explained there are many single points of failure in a rural setting like the Saint Andrews area.
“(In) the Maritimes, we have a lot of vulnerable populations. We have single road access, which is a real challenge, because with risk, you need redundancies to build into a system.”
He recalled the Halifax wildfires in 2023, which were coincidentally happening at the time as the fire near Saint Andrews, saying colleagues of his pointed out that people were driving toward the fire on roads needed by emergency services.
“The problem with the people with the car is (people) who thought they could jump in the car and drive away and say, ‘Oh, I’m just driving into Halifax.’ It’s like, ‘No, you’re driving away from Halifax because we have one road and emergency services coming in from that road,’” said Quigley.
Quigley explained after several high-impact events in Nova Scotia, including the 1998 Swissair Flight 111 crash and Hurricane Juan in 2003, it became clear the need for emergency officials to be in the same room very quickly.
However, he said in some cases, no one is quick to rush on owning decisions that are made in the midst of a crisis.
“When there’s a crisis, are people willing to put their hand up right away and say, you know, ‘I did it, it’s my fault,’ you know? Or if they didn’t handle it well? Probably not,” he said. “I guess what you really want to see is you want to see a commitment to learning. You want to see transparency. Really an open account of what happened and how we can improve and who is going to be accountable for that improvement. How they’re going to report back to us and tell us how they’ve improved, not just let it drift away into the next wildfire.”
He said it is correct to suggest you have to have a lot of information in order to issue an emergency alert that informs the public accurately.
“Not to just say there’s a fire, but there’s a fire, and this is what you need to do about it,” he said. “Give people some action to actually respond. It’s an important part of risk communication.”
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