Emergency Management Agencies
Why should Emergency Management Agencies participate in the WCIR program?
We can coexist with wildfire on the landscape but more needs to be done to make communities wildfire resilient. Currently, wildfire management is collaborative, with provinces and territories responsible for managing wildfires primarily on forested lands. If needed, local governments fighting fires in their counties and municipalities receive help from the provincial and territorial wildfire management agencies. The federal government manages wildfires in the national parks and military bases and assists Indigenous communities to strengthen wildfire resilience. Similarly, learning from and preventing wildfire disasters requires a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach with cooperation between multiple levels of government, agencies, and researchers.
By joining the WCIR program, you can help us better understand wildfire spread and characteristics of wildfire resilient structures.
If you have any questions about this program or would like to discuss your involvement, please contact us at wcir@fpinnovations.ca
Who is Conducting the Research?
FPInnovations Wildfire Operations Research (wildfire.fpinnovations.ca) provides wildfire investigation services. We conduct evidence-based research from observable data collected using a standardized process. Through this research, we strive to deliver practical solutions so Canadians can coexist and safely work and live with wildfire.
FPInnovations Wildfire Operations Research does NOT critically examine wildfire suppression practices and decisions. We focus on understanding how wildfire enters and spreads through a community. Services provided can include:
- Assessments of how wildfire entered and spread through a community
- Fuel treatment efficacy assessments
- Data collection and analyses to determine why some homes burned and others did not
- Wildfire behaviour documentation
- Wildfire spread chronology
How Can You be Part of This Research?
We have contacted local governments advising that if a wildfire disaster occurs in one of their communities during the 2025-2028 wildfire seasons, they can reach out to FPInnovations, or FPInnovations may contact them regarding post-wildfire research.
Wildfire management agencies are increasingly providing structure protection to mitigate community impacts from wildfire.
To successfully implement WCIR, we will be looking for the following assistance:
- Early site access to impacted communities to minimize the loss or damage of evidence such as structure condition at the moment of wildfire intrusion and ember exposure characteristics.
- Integration of trained WCIR data collection teams in incident command to facilitate clear and effective communications, increase safety, share data, provide rapid delivery of research findings, interview homeowners, and when and where possible, share resources.
- Exchange of important information including firsthand observations with key response personnel.
- Access to data of different types (if available and subject to use conditions) including: Maps and other spatial data, Structure suppression data and Photos and videos
If you have any questions about this program or would like to discuss your involvement, please contact us at wcir@fpinnovations.ca