{"id":8058,"date":"2026-05-04T21:05:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/en-ca\/projects\/denare-beach-wolf-wildfire-response\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T20:23:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:23:41","slug":"denare-beach-wolf-wildfire-response","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/en-ca\/projects\/denare-beach-wolf-wildfire-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Denare\u00a0Beach\u00a0Wolf Wildfire\u00a0Response\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In June 2025, the community of&nbsp;Denare&nbsp;Beach in Northeastern Saskatchewan was devastated by the Wolf Wildfire, which destroyed 260 homes, or 60% of the residences, including 24 belonging to Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. With a long-standing relationship with AECOM, Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation and the Village of&nbsp;Denare&nbsp;Beach sought&nbsp;our&nbsp;help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:24px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"aecom-custom-block client-quote-block\" style=\"margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px\">\n    <p class=\"client-quote-text\" style=\"margin-top: 30px\";>\n        \u201cWe were already working in the community of Denare Beach and we\u2019ve worked with the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation for decades, the trust was there that we could help.\u201d     <\/p>\n    <p class=\"client-quote-author\">\n        Ryan King    <\/p>\n    <p class=\"client-quote-title\">\n        Project Manager, AECOM Canada    <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:24px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<script src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/player.js\" async><\/script><script src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/embed\/erru1vkiqi.js\" async type=\"module\"><\/script><style>wistia-player[media-id='erru1vkiqi']:not(:defined) { background: center \/ contain no-repeat url('https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/embed\/medias\/erru1vkiqi\/swatch'); display: block; filter: blur(5px); padding-top:56.25%; }<\/style> <wistia-player media-id=\"erru1vkiqi\" aspect=\"1.7777777777777777\"><\/wistia-player>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:24px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Coming together in a time of crisis<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The full scope of services was unknown at the outset, but we listened, shared, and provided leadership to a heavily impacted community.&nbsp;We worked closely with community leaders,&nbsp;other&nbsp;consultants, a&nbsp;contractor&nbsp;and government bodies to&nbsp;expedite&nbsp;planning and approvals to start the road to recovery.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Developed in one week, the Disaster Debris Management Plan (DDMP) became the foundation for restoring the community. The DDMP served as the framework for assessing 260 hazard sites, conducting asbestos testing, organizing the cleanup, disposing&nbsp;of&nbsp;25,000 cubic meters of&nbsp;debris&nbsp;and 30,000 cubic meters of recyclables, and communicating with the community, insurance companies, and government.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:24px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"aecom-custom-block client-quote-block\" style=\"margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px\">\n    <p class=\"client-quote-text\" style=\"margin-top: 30px\";>\n        \u201cThey&#8217;re so proud of their community and that gave me the resolve to help them as professionally and quickly as possible to restore pride in their community\u201d     <\/p>\n    <p class=\"client-quote-author\">\n        Ryan King    <\/p>\n    <p class=\"client-quote-title\">\n        Project Manager, AECOM Canada    <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:24px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>To streamline the process and&nbsp;minimize further disruption, we prepared a cleanup construction contract that ensured a single community cleanup would be carried out by a single&nbsp;contractor. This contract was prepared in days&nbsp;and approved in hours. Cleanup started&nbsp;one&nbsp;month after the fire.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The cleanup consisted of separating the materials&nbsp;for recycling, including&nbsp;concrete,&nbsp;trees&nbsp;and metal.&nbsp;Before the remaining ash&nbsp;debris could be disposed of, we&nbsp;needed&nbsp;to design a new landfill cell to accommodate twenty years\u2019 worth of debris in two months. We designed the cell at an accelerated pace. It&nbsp;was&nbsp;quickly&nbsp;approved by&nbsp;the Ministry of Environment and added to the existing construction contract&nbsp;for immediate implementation.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&nbsp;provided services ranging from civil and environmental engineering, field engineering, and construction services, including inspection and administration, hazard assessments, debris tracking and documentation, soil, water, and asbestos testing, laboratory testing, and water\/sewer camera inspections. The final deliverables were 260 individual property reports documenting the conditions, testing, and results for each lot for the municipality, 14 insurance companies, Peter&nbsp;Ballantyne&nbsp;Cree Nation, and residents.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Foundation construction began on lots that had been cleaned up and had passed the necessary testing in late August 2025, with the first new home completed in early October 2025.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A&nbsp;long-term&nbsp;relationship on unshakeable foundations<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Unbeknownst to our team until the award was&nbsp;presented, the people of&nbsp;Denare&nbsp;Beach and Peter&nbsp;Ballantyne&nbsp;Cree Nation&nbsp;nominated&nbsp;the entire team for&nbsp;the&nbsp;Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan\u2019s&nbsp;2026 Exceptional Engineering and Geoscience Award.&nbsp;It was an honour to be recognized&nbsp;alongside our partners&nbsp;by the communities and our peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"aecom-custom-block block-facts\"\n    style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 40px\">\n\n            <h2>Awards &#038; recognition<\/h2>\n        <ul class=\"list-style-check\">\n                    <li>\n                                    2026 Exceptional Engineering and Geoscience Award &#8211; Association of Professional Engineers of Saskatchewan (APEGS)                            <\/li>\n            <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:24px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-id=\"195809\" src=\"https:\/\/aecom.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MAX_0171-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-195809\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-id=\"195810\" src=\"https:\/\/aecom.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MAX_0266-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-195810\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-id=\"195808\" src=\"https:\/\/aecom.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DJI_20250722182321_0023-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-195808\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-id=\"195811\" src=\"https:\/\/aecom.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MAX_0476-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-195811\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"author":701,"featured_media":8061,"template":"","tags":[],"city":[76],"class_list":["post-8058","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","city-denare-beach"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/8058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/701"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/8058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8067,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/8058\/revisions\/8067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8058"},{"taxonomy":"city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/city?post=8058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}