Training, equipment review, among recommendations from N.W.T. coroner after 2023 death of wildland firefighter

The N.W.T. Coroner Service is recommending the territory's Department of Environment and Climate Change ensure all of its firefighting crew leaders and supervisors have what it calls "danger tree assessor" training, after a wildland firefighter was killed by a falling tree last year. 

Adam Yeadon, 25, was killed while working the perimeter of a forest fire near his community of Fort Liard, N.W.T., on July 15, 2023. The coroner's office has not released its report into the incident but on Wednesday it issued nine recommendations that had emerged from that investigation. 

The recommendations include danger tree assessor training for firefighters who use a chainsaw near a forest fire, a third-party review of all the safety equipment firefighters wear, and consideration of a "more protective" type of helmet called a Bullard Wildfire Helmet FH911XL. 

The coroner service also recommends the Department of Environment and Climate Change (ECC) review the minimum number of fire personnel it deploys, and the level of training they have, to carry out different types of work. 

It says three Type 1 firefighters – who have the highest level of training –  are needed to deal with active wildfires, while Type 3 firefighters should only be used for sustained attacks and mop-ups. 

Internal documents obtained by CBC News and first reported last week show Yeadon had been part of a three-person crew that had been clearing a line and laying down hose near the fire. 

The documents, which include the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission's findings and ECC's internal report about what happened, don't specifically identify Yeadon or his colleagues as either Type 1 or Type 3 firefighters, but they do describe Yeadon as a crew member, and his colleagues as a crew leader and a fire technician. 

ECC's internal report also shows the territory was already adding more training to assess dangerous trees before Yeadon was killed. Assessing dangerous trees is part of the standard S-131 training that firefighters get, and the department was starting to offer an entire one-day course on the subject in 2023.

The documents show ECC had also recommended to its own fire program after Yeadon's death that it add more information and practical training on assessing dangerous trees and also develop a process to report dangerous trees. 

The Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission found Yeadon's death was beyond the control of his employer or his crew mates, and did not lay charges.

ECC reviewing coroner's recommendations

N.W.T. Minister of Environment and Climate Change Jay Macdonald told CBC News on Wednesday his department was considering the recommendations from the territory's coroner service. He said it was too early to say whether the department would commit to the changes. 

"This is a difficult subject for me to talk about. I knew Adam. I came from the department, I worked in the department for 13 years, I had very close relationships with many of the firefighters through my previous role," said Macdonald.

He said the department's top priority was to ensure the safety of all its staff, and to make sure a tragedy like Yeadon's death never happens again. 

CBC News has asked the coroner's office for an interview about the recommendations, but did not hear back by publication time.