Chief Tammy Cook-Searson of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and Premier Brad Wall have agreed to a policy change to ensure local fire-fighters can help with the effort.
Chief Cook-Searson says the original policy did not allow people without official training to help out even though they are experienced firefighters.
“Extreme situations require extreme measures,” said Chief Cook-Searson in a media release. “Our people have the knowledge, skills, and experience for fire-fighting and are ready to work.”
The policy had required people to have the official training designation of Type 3 to help fight the fires, but the chief says human resources are ‘running short’.
Premier Brad Wall did join in on the LLRIB emergency operations meeting on Friday.
Here is a statement he provided to MBC Radio.
“We had a constructive discussion. We are committed to flexibility in terms of resource deployment and policy, given the extraordinary nature of these fires. Once the current fire season is over, we will sit down with stakeholders and communities and conduct a lessons learned review.”
Chief Tammy-Cook Searson says they had a productive meeting as well and they now have 30 local fire fighters on the “Brian,” fire line from Grandmother’s Bay.
Chief Cook-Searson also echoed some of the Premier’s statement saying that once the fires are stabilized, a northern gathering will be called to discuss what is working well and what can be done to improve the response.