Distinguished Merit Award: Outstanding recovery of Whiteshell Fire Operations (Part 1)

THE DISTINGUISHED MERIT AWARD IS AWARDED TO:

For outstanding recovery of Whiteshell (WL) Fire Operations.

In April 2023 following an assessment of the WL Fire Protection Program, the WL site was placed into a safe stand down state. New WL Fire Chief Brent MacDonald and the WL Fire Protection team, supported by the CNL Fire Protection Program, implemented a year-long recovery plan. The recovery plan involved:

• Realigning the WL Fire Protection organisation to separate the from the traditional organisation that was combined with the WL Security team.
• Recruiting an excellent team of managers and firefighters.
• Establishing a thorough training and practice exercise program that meets and exceeds NFPA and CNL corporate standards.
• Procuring new fire fighting equipment to meet modern standards.
• Updating approximately 100 procedures and supporting documents.
• Implementing sustainable corrective actions to address numerous long-standing non-compliances.

The accomplishment of the outstanding recovery by the entire team over the past year, has enabled WL emerge from the stand down a stronger, site underpinned by more capable fire, security and emergency response organizations.