New Evacuation Plan For Northern Ontario

The evacuations of First Nations communities in the Far North two years ago has prompted the provincial Government to make changes.
The Chief of Emergency Management Ontario says a new evacuation plan for forest fires has been developed for northern Ontario.
Speaking in Dryden, Allison Stuart says the strategy ensures everyone is on the same page.
Stuart says the plan outlines “what needs to be done” and not “this is how you do it”.
She notes the strategy provides communities and emergency groups with “guidelines and “checklists”.
Stuart hopes the plan will help emergency officials keep tabs on where everyone is following an evacuation.
She adds they weren’t used to having an event go on for as long as it did.
The new plan was drafted with input from emergency organizations and First Nations leaders.
Massive forest fires in the summer of 2011 forced roughly 4,400 people from 10-First Nations to flee their homes.
The evacuees were housed in several urban centres including Dryden.
2011 was the second biggest year in terms of area burned since 1917.