On the afternoon of May 28, 2023, within the boundaries of the municipality, an outside fire ignited in the community of Upper Tantallon resulting in substantial property and environmental destruction and significant disruption to lives that will not be soon forgotten. This fire developed into the municipality's most extensive urban interface wildfire. The response to this unprecedented situation extended for more than a week and included an expansive multi-agency operation. Despite extensive efforts to control and extinguish the wildfire, it consumed more than 900 hectares, required the evacuation of 16,400 people, and resulted in the loss of approximately 200 structures, including 151 homes.
Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency (HRFE) has completed an internal Post Incident Analysis (PIA) to learn from the event. The purpose of this report is to provide lessons learned for HRFE to apply so as to gain from this tragedy.
The report includes insights from allied agencies as well as from HRFE firefighters and other team members. The observations and recommendations in this report are exclusive to HRFE.
Analysis of the fire and response efforts to contain it have identified 13 themes for areas of learning. Within these themes, findings of 24 best practices, which are strengths to sustain, and 56 opportunities for improvement are identified.
The report was provided to Regional Council as an information item at the August 6, 2024 Regional Council meeting and presented to Committee of the Whole, August 20, 2024.
HRFE remembers the suffering that this event caused for so many of our residents. We know the effects are still felt today. Our commitment is to use this experience to be better prepared to prevent such fires in the future, respond effectively and assist our communities in recovering quickly.
Read the Post Incident Analysis
A short history of this fire - Storymap
To help visualize the detail covered in the Post Incident Anaylsis, and provide a more visual history of the fire, HRFE has prepared an an interactive storymap. This product leverages map data, media reports and other content to help easily communicate the detailed analysis found in the full report.
Full report
Provided to Regional Council as information item August 6, 2024 and presented to Committee of the Whole, August 20, 2024, the full report provides detailed analysis of HRFE's response to the 2023 Upper Tantallon Wildfire.