Residents in areas across Canada prone to wildfires have become used to watching the skies turn an eerie orange from smoke and staying indoors because the air’s not safe to breathe.
They watch for evacuation orders to appear on their cell phones, telling them when a nearby wildfire is approaching, and if it’s time to grab their bags and go.
Sometimes — even when ground and air crews work tirelessly to prevent it — homes and businesses are lost to a fire.
If a wildfire gets close enough to Whitehorse, the Yukon’s capital city, Stuart Clark wants to make sure as few homes as possible are impacted.
"Fire is a big threat to Whitehorse," said Clark, who is part of a group of Yukoners who run the non-profit Wildfire Awareness Society (WAS).
"Most people here consider smoke in summer like snow in winter."
While towering spruce and pine trees are part of the stunning beauty of the northern community, the boreal forests surrounding the city of roughly 35,000 people also pose a significant wildfire threat.
That's because the trees and other vegetation act as fuel for a fire, said Clark, a retired engineer.
Embers can travel several kilometres ahead of the actual flames in a wildfire, Clark said. These flying embers can ignite the materials on or near a home, damaging it or gutting it completely, according to FireSmart Canada.
As homes in a neighbourhood start to burn, more embers are created, and more homes and buildings catch fire.
In addition to helping the public understand how to prepare to evacuate in the event of a wildfire, WAS educates Whitehorse residents about how proactively making their homes and yards less flammable could help prevent their properties from burning.
While some people might assume there isn’t much they can do to protect their homes in a wildfire, there are simple, practical steps that can make a meaningful difference.
Clark’s organization is focused on making sure Whitehorse residents know what these steps are.
Making a home less flammable can include keeping roof gutters clean, using fire-resistant roofing materials, keeping a clear, 1.5-metre space around the house, avoiding wood or vinyl as siding materials, mowing the lawn regularly, and enclosing the space under decks.
It may also include installing roof sprinklers, which won’t necessarily extinguish a fire when turned on, but would instead make it less likely for a flying ember to ignite a property in the first place.
"We've had built a model of a duplex house that we take to community events," Clark said. "One side of the duplex has [fire-resistant features] and the other [doesn’t]. We asked people to spot the 10 differences between the two. It works really well because people start thinking about their own homes."
To help get the word out, WAS also shares its message with locals using an ad that plays before movies shown at Whitehorse's only theatre.
In early 2025, TD Insurance donated $12,000 to WAS to support its work in Whitehorse. The donation is part of how TD Insurance supports communities and customers who are coping with Canada’s increasingly destructive wildfire seasons.
“Organizations like WAS provide such an important service. I’m so happy that TD Insurance is able to support them, and our customers by extension, with the incredible work WAS does to help serve their community,” said Louis-Blaise Dumais-Levesque, Manager, Product Management – Strategic Initiatives and Climate Adaptation, TD Insurance.
“Living through a wildfire is one of the worst experiences someone can have, and the proactive leadership and educational resources that WAS provides is incredibly invaluable in helping to protect their communities.”
While wildfires are naturally occurring, their frequency and intensity are increasing in Canada, according to the Canadian Climate Institute. Last summer, wildfires destroyed one third of the structures in the townsite of Jasper, Alta., according to Parks Canada.
The 2023 wildfire season was "the most destructive ever recorded," according to Natural Resources Canada. By the end of that year, more than 6,000 fires had burned 15 million hectares of land.
In 2016, a fire swept through Fort McMurray, Alta., burning 599,767 hectares of land, destroying 4,200 homes and businesses, and costing insurers $3.6 billion, a report from Public Safety Canada found.
Collaborating with government on wildfire prevention
WAS works with different levels of government to advocate for more strategies and the direction of more resources for protecting Whitehorse against the threat of wildfires, Clark said.
"We've been speaking to the city for many years, initially trying to underline the importance of reducing the trees around Whitehorse and then making use of the wood as a biofuel because a lot of people in the community heat with wood," Clark said.
"We've also been talking to the city about evacuation preparedness."
The group is pleased to see the proactive steps the city is taking, he said.
"City council hired a coordinator [focused on fire prevention], as well as an emergency management coordinator," Clark said. "Two jobs in a city our size is a significant financial commitment for them to make."
In 2020, the Yukon government began constructing a fuel break south of the city, which is designed to slow down the spread of a wildfire and give fire fighters more space to work.
The creation of the Whitehorse South Fuel Break — the first of its kind in Canada — involves removing flammable trees and vegetation and replacing it with other native trees that are more resistant to fire.
Construction of the fuel break, which spans 20 kilometres, is expected to finish in the coming years.
Wildfires are on the minds of Whitehorse locals, Clark said, especially after the Jasper fire in 2024 and the 2021 fire that devastated Lytton, a village in the interior of British Columbia.
While most members of the public are eager to learn more about taking steps to protect their homes, Clark said he sometimes meets residents who believe they would simply rebuild if they lost their home to a wildfire.
But the reality of rebuilding isn't so simple, he said. It can sometimes take years, especially as Canada grapples with a housing crisis.
"You're not going to get it rebuilt in six months," Clark said. “Why don’t we help ensure they have the knowledge and tools they need to protect their homes during fire season?”
To provide immediate relief and support, TD Bank Group will be donating to the Canadian Red Cross, community organizations, and Indigenous Nations supporting recovery efforts.