Lack of fire mitigation measures may have exacerbated Halifax-area wildfire: report

The new report says a communication breakdown during May’s wfire response had a detrimental impact the review by City staff cites the unclear accountability between HRM and the province as further compounding challenges faced by residents it shouldn’t be up to community members in a who are caught in the middle of a

Catastrophe to figure out who they need to talk to there’s still confusion over communication that is lacking what else is lacking in is the working together between the province and HRM um you know both are putting their own after action reports together during the fire’s Peak more than 16,000 people were evacuated

And 151 homes destroyed the report says dry hydrants and a lack of fire mitigation measures may have exacerbated the crisis in Westwood Hills uh I and the community have been fighting for a new egress for four and a half months and uh um it’s still not happened and

That’s just one uh example of safety infrastructure that needs to be improved there’s really nothing there’s a locked exit right like um we honestly feel like things are just being brushed under the the rug the report has also found emergency alerts were not s out fast enough and evacuation routes were scarce

Delesie drove through fire on Hammond’s Plains Road trying to get out this is your one and only opportunity to do the right thing listen to what is written take your report match it with Province and fix it the local counselor says planning and discussions are underway with the

Province we’ve also looked at uh egress and struck in an egress working group um to get a better understanding of where we can put egress for some of these subdivisions that only have one way in and out the report will be presented to Regional Council Tuesday Sky bride and

Blom Global News hell Max

A report assessing Halifax’s response to a wildfire that destroyed 151 homes found that communications issues caused confusion and a lack of fire mitigation measures may have exacerbated the crisis.

A report authored by Halifax Regional Municipality staff lays out weaknesses in its response to the fire that started in a suburb northwest of the city’s downtown.

“As the municipality has grown, the maturity of the Emergency Management function has not kept pace and has remained underfunded and under-resourced,” reads the report, which is scheduled to be presented to council on Tuesday.

At a peak, more than 16,000 residents were forced to evacuate after a fire broke out on May 28 and some were prohibited from returning home for as long as 12 days. The report said the municipality’s emergency plan was last reviewed in 2018, even though reassessments are supposed to take place every three years.

Global’s Skye Bryden-Blom reports.

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