K’ahsho Got’ine Guardians Fight Wildfire, Support Emergency Response in NWT
Wildfire approaches the community of Fort Good Hope, NWT on June 15, 2024.
All photos courtesy of Twyla Edgi-Masuzumi
July 15, 2024
On Saturday, June 15th, Twyla Edgi-Masuzumi and her fellow Guardians were cooking breakfast on the shores of the Mackenzie River and noticed a plume of smoke rising from the forest in the direction of their community of Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories. Twyla, who is the Guardians Coordinator for the K’ahsho Got’ine Foundation, and six other Guardians from the program had been on the land for three days setting up for their fish camp. The KGF Guardians set up and run the camp so that Elders and youth can come together and learn how to make fish nets, set nets, catch fish, dry fish sticks – all things fundamental to the K’asho Got’ine. “We had gone downriver to set more nets and you could see a little bit of smoke rising, but it is so hot and dry out – when the wind picked up, the fire just moved so fast,” said Twyla.
As the eyes and ears on the land for the K’asho Got’ine, the Guardians have equipment like Garmin In-Reaches that allow them to communicate from remote locations. After receiving messages from community members that they may be evacuated due to the threat of wildfire, Twyla and her team quickly made the call to head back to the community and support in any way needed. When they returned, flames were visible from the edge of town, and the evacuation order had been called by fellow Guardian and sub-chief, Joseph Tobac.
Flames reach the airstrip in Fort Good Hope, NWT
When the evacuation order came, the Guardians were already prepared. Not only do they have the expertise to build and run on-the-land programs like fish camp, they also have the training to respond in emergency situations–including wildfire–and the community looks to them as leaders and facilitators. In the weeks leading up to camp, the breadth of Guardians activities included bird sampling on the land, supporting the annual cultural moose hide camp, fish sampling along the river, setting up the fish camp, searching for two missing boats, and dry fish making before finding themselves in the thick of the emergency evacuation.
In the face of the fire, community leaders and the Guardians quickly formed a plan to evacuate many community members to the already-set-up fish camp. As sub-chief, Guardian Joseph Tobac held a major leadership role in calling for the evacuation, planning with Fort Good Hope Fire Chief Mitchell Shae, and supporting the evacuation location planning – including in Norman Wells and Délı̨nę, but also the Guardians fish camp. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t also on the front lines. Meanwhile, Twyla recounts that they began grabbing equipment – canvas tents, pop-tents, bedding, everything that they had – and filling their boats to expand a camp that was meant for no more than 40 people to accommodate over 100.
Twyla Edgi-Masuzumi delivers tent poles to the KGF fish camp
For several years, the K’ahsho Got'ine Guardians had also co-led a couple of on-the-land culture camps for the Youth program at the Fort Good Hope Dene Band/K’asho Got’ine Charter Community, which meant additional supplies from that program were available for an emergency evacuation. Twyla and her fellow Guardians quickly mobilized and worked with the band office to get access to the equipment and supplies, ferrying it down the river, greatly increasing their ability to house more community members. “Those supplies are so important for communities to have in case of emergencies – we were so lucky to have enough tents and bedding to house 120 people at the fish camp, we even had nets too. Maybe there was a reason why we [Guardians] were supposed to have that camp.”
Guardian Buddy Gully drives a boat delivering tent poles to the fish camp
But providing supplies, ferrying community members to safety, and remaining calm wasn’t the only task for the Guardians that day. Twyla, along with fellow Guardians Joseph Tobac, Danny Masuzumi, KGF president Darcy Edgi, and many community members including the Chief, experienced older and younger K’asho Got’ine firefighters, and the Fire Chief, Mitchell Shae, were on the front lines of keeping the wildfire out of Fort Good Hope on that first day.
After the massive fires near Yellowknife and other out-of-control fires across the country in 2023, the K'ahsho Got’ine Guardians wanted to be prepared. Twyla, Joseph, and others had completed the Beat the Heat training with the Yukon First Nations Wildfire to become wildland firefighters certified in fire management and emergency response. Reflecting on the response when every second counts, Joseph emphasized that “the training paid off. I got that pump going right away!”
Not only had the Guardians completed the course, but they had also encouraged other community members to get certified as well – just in case. “We did the training because we wanted to be prepared, and we are so glad that we did. Having that knowledge and training on how to fight fire and how to stay safe, that played a big role in what happened,” recounts Twyla. “I remember calling the Guardians and saying “Let’s do this.”
View of the growing wildfire near Fort Good Hope from the Mackenzie river
Unless you have been near an active raging wildfire, it’s difficult to convey the sheer intensity and terror it represents. For the community at Fort Good Hope, the reality was directly in front of them. There had never been a fire so close to the community before. The flames were right on the edge of town, the smoke billowing, and the fire was advancing at a rapid rate All night Danny Masuzumi drove the fire truck while Twyla and Joseph ran the water alongside Guardians and community members trying to keep the fire at bay to save the town.
“That’s the thing about communities – you all pull together,” said Twyla. “There was only one small GNWT fire crew that was here in Fort Good Hope that day. Most of it was the community, they were running water hoses, skimming the top of the soil, it was smokey and difficult but they all kept going.”
Guardians are often ‘jack of all trades’ expanding capacity for other community organizations and programs, doing environmental monitoring under community direction – but as the people with boots on the ground, they are increasingly on the front lines of protecting communities from wildfire and executing various emergency response roles. And with increasing threats from climate change, having trained Guardians as wildland firefighters is increasingly important.
After three days on the front lines, Danny shared his fears that every year it will only get worse, and stressed that it’s critical to augment territorial government monitoring and response. “From our perspective, we’ve always been trying to get government to see our side of the story in fire protection,” he shared. He also stressed the value of the training and support that the community received from the Yukon First Nations Wildfire.
Dr. Amy Christianson is an expert with the Indigenous Leadership Initiative on Indigenous fire practices and wildfire management, and recently highlighted both the importance of training Guardians for wildfire response, but also the benefits that would bring to Indigenous communities across Canada. She also outlines the benefits of having well-positioned, well-trained Guardians on the ground—especially in remote areas where there are lower staffing rates at agencies. Dr. Christianson points out another benefit of Guardians in fire: they would be employed year-round doing fire response but also cultural fire, prevention, education, evacuation planning, and recovery after a wildfire. “We often forget the post-fire recovery period; Guardians can go out on the land and assess what’s needed to restore the land and cultural values.”
Fish smoke house on the shore of the Mackenzie river
After the initial emergency response, Twyla rejoined her fellow Guardians who had worked diligently to get the fish camp set up for 120 people. All is peaceful now, but it was a whirlwind of work, entailing things like setting up a generator and hooking up two deep freezers and a refrigerator, pulling together a kitchen, prepping food, and setting up dozens of tents – “Thank God for pop-tents,” noted Twyla – and doing everything they can do to make everyone comfortable. She spent a lot of time reassuring people, sharing stories of everyone who had stayed up all night and that they hadn’t lost their homes.
Kids from the community, safe at fish camp
“The sense of relief on their faces, that they can go back to their home when it’s safe. I will never forget it.” There’s also a sense of ease for evacuees – the emotional connection of being on the land and being safe during such an intense time. Meanwhile, others like Darcy and Joseph continued to stay on the front lines for days, until there was no direct threat to the community.
Community leaders and administrators continue to work with the newly created Fort Good Hope Fire Brigade, the Yukon First Nations Wildfire, and the GNWT fire crews to assess when it is safe to return to Fort Good Hope. That means most of the Guardians have kept busy supporting camp and the evacuees – although Joseph has remained in town to work the fire line. They arranged to hire three babysitters to keep kids safe around the river, and brought in two additional cooks and a kitchen helper to feed the community. Having highly skilled bush cooks in camp has been crucial - people in camp have been so grateful for the excellent food. The Guardians also returned back to town to do grocery shopping (and even work as a cashier to help the only remaining manager of the store out!) and deliver supplies to another family’s evacuation camp up the river.
Community members play games organized by the Guardians
“We’re doing everything we can to make everyone feel safe and comfortable,” said Danny. “We’re making dry fish like we would have at a ‘normal’ fish camp. We’ve organized a lot of games – stick pole, balloon toss, leg wrestling,” added Twyla. The Guardians were also organizing drumming on the river, to feed the river, and ask for rain so that their people could go home – homes that were saved thanks to a small and fierce group of K’asho Got’ine leaders, community members, and the Guardians.
Dried fish at the evacuation site and Guardians fish camp
Reflecting on the past weeks, Twyla and other leaders emphasized again the importance of readiness and training for emergencies in wildfire. Not only had the Guardians received training, the leadership had also organized to bring in other experienced community members like Harvey Pierrot. Having those extra hands made all the difference on that day in Fort Good Hope. The K’asho Got’ine Charter Community municipal workers have also been another critical part of the response team. “The relationship we have between the Guardians and the community – to fight fire, or anything that happens there, we always do what we can,” shared Twyla. “It is amazing to see how much love and dedication we have for each other. I’m so proud of my fellow Guardians and so proud of our community members.”
Kids from Fort Good Hope play games and in the water at fish camp
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The situation in Fort Good Hope is unfolding in real time, and the fire is still actively burning about 11 kilometres from the Guardians fish camp site. A few days ago, Gwich’in friends and relatives in the communities of Teetl’it Zheh and Tsiigehtchic fundraised and gathered amongst themselves, and headed up the river with groceries and supplies today. This solidarity and support demonstrates the central Gwich’in and K’asho Got’ine values of sharing what you have and helping each other in times of great need. On July 6th, the evacuation order was lifted.
We would like to extend our respect and admiration to all of the community members, workers, leaders and Guardians who are actively fighting the fire and supporting the K’asho Got’ine community. The KGF team working at the fire line in-town, and in camp, included: Chief Collin Pierrot, vice-president; Darcy Edgi, president; Danny Masuzumi, ED; Twyla Edgi-Masuzumi, Guardians Coordinator; Joseph Tobac - Sub-chief and Guardian; John Tobac and Buddy Gully, Guardians; and the three seasonal full-time Guardians, Gordon Kelly, Francis Lafferty and Joel Lafferty, and administrative and finance assistant Sunny Kang.
