Peter Turner, the president of the Yukon Chamber of Commerce, says he believes a conference hosted by the chamber Thursday will help businesses develop plans and connections to deal with major events that can threaten their operations.

Businesses and officials from various governments gathered at the Yukon Convention Centre to listen to various presentations on disaster planning and the like throughout the day.

Among the presentations was a keynote address over the lunch hour delivered via Webex from Brian Bettis, Telus’ Alberta North general manager.

He was part of the Telus team that dealt with the response to the wildfires that ripped through Fort McMurray in 2016.

Throughout his presentation, which focused on the lessons learned from the calamity, Bettis recalled the Fort McMurray fire, describing it as an “event that shaped and changed my life.”

He noted from a Telus perspective, the company remains proud that not only did its cell service remain in place, but it was able to extend service to firefighters and others battling the blaze through the Cell On Wheels service (essentially a small portable cell tower).

The company also provided a total of 1,400 phones to first responders.

“I don’t know where any of those phones went,” Bettis told delegates at the conference. He noted he is pleased that Telus was able to provide a much-needed service during the emergency.

Many Telus workers were subject to evacuation orders.

Telus ordered many of its workers to leave its Fort McMurray offices before the formal evacuation order was made. A core group – including Bettis – remained to deal with the response.

“It was absolutely astonishing,” Bettis said.

The explosion of a gas station could be felt throughout the entire community, he added.

Working with firefighting officials and forestry crews, the company was able to provide locations of cell towers that needed protection as well as extending the cell service to first responders.

Telus was also able to access GPS technology on phones to learn that 220,000 had evacuated the community and provide that information to emergency responders.

“Day 2 was a scary day,” Bettis recalled.

He and others on the Telus team dealing with the fire were also forced to leave the community, he told his audience.

At the same time, discussions were also starting to focus on how recovery would happen.

Those early talks meant a plan was in place when it was time for employees to return.

In the meantime, staff who were able to were working at welcome centres for those who had to flee.

Management remained in touch with employees, letting them know what was happening in the community as well as the state of their homes.

With assistance from RCMP and agreement with the businesses, items were able to be taken from shops to be used for the emergency.

Bettis recalled being let in with others to a Best Buy store to obtain computers (on a take-now, pay-later agreement) needed for the efforts.

In total, Bettis said five staffers lost their homes to the fire. In those cases, things like long-term leave, relocation and such were offered to staff.

Looking back, he noted there were many lessons learned – chief among them being safety first for staff, then infrastructure.

It also became important to manage the amount of help that was being offered.

Bettis came to realize that he couldn’t do all that was required; thus delegating became important.

Planning ahead for recovery also proved to be very important and allowed things to go more smoothly as employees returned to the community and got back on the job.

Turner noted that presentations by Bettis and others throughout the conference already have the chamber planning to pursue a few initiatives: moving to web backup for chamber files to ensure they’re available, for example.

From a community standpoint, he noted he plans to look at the possibility of compiling some sort of inventory of items shops carry in case they are needed for a larger emergency situation.

Turner noted that about one in five businesses in North America suffer situations – which can be individual scenarios like a sprinkler being set off and damaging important computer files or larger disasters like a wildfire – each year that may threaten it.

In June 1991, Whitehorse came very close to being evacuated when it was feared a wildfire on Haeckel Hill would burn parts of the capital. Fortunately, that never ensued.

Turner said the chamber hopes to host similar conferences or workshops on the disaster issue in the future.