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The article focuses on the importance of emergency plans. Last summer, many First Nation communities in British Columbia learned firsthand the importance of having emergency plans in place. The province experienced its worst year ever for forest fires. By the end of the summer more than 2,500 wildfires had been recorded. In all, more than 260,000 hectares of forest were destroyed, along with a number of houses and businesses. More than 45,000 people were evacuated when advancing flames threatened their communities.

The article assesses the effect of new measures for emergency events announced by the Canadian federal government in 2013. First Nations Alberta Regional Chief Cameron Alexis critiques the organizational chart for the federal Emergency Management Coordination for not putting First Nations as an equal and the delivery of emergency services to First Nation reserves as crafted by the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.

British Columbia is operating under a state of emergency as forest fires burn across the province. As of August 26, British Columbia was dealing with 818 fires, 270 of those in the southeast corner of the province. More than 17,000 people had been ordered to leave their homes under evacuation orders and many others warned to prepare to leave quickly, their communities under evacuation alert. Among the communities evacuated was the Adams Lake Indian band, located in the province's southern interior. The evacuation order came in the late evening of August 16, when the McGillivray/Neskonlith Lake fire threatened the village, whose members live on two parcels of land, one near Chase, the other near Salmon Arm.