Social Work Practitioners and Human Service Professionals in the 2016 Alberta (Canada) Wildfires: Roles and Contributions

The 2016 Alberta wildfires resulted in devastating human, economic and environmental impacts. Social work practitioners and human service professionals are increasingly involved in disaster contexts yet there remains a pressing need to better understand their professional role and contributions. The wildfire resulted in the mobilisation and engagement of social work practitioners and human service professionals to meet the needs of individuals, families, groups and affected community members. Research was undertaken to identify the roles and responsibilities of social work practitioners and human service professionals in the context of the wildfires in Fort McMurray, AB, Canada. Forty social work practitioners and human service professionals were inter-viewed about their direct experience in the provision of social services in the context of the 2016 wildfire. This article shares the findings based on four themes: social work practice in disaster contexts; social work role in disaster management; building capacity and advocacy, wellness and self-care. Implications and recommendations discuss the need to enhance understandings of the roles and contributions of social work practitioners and human service professionals in disasters with a particular focus on long-term disaster recovery. Disaster response, crisis management, incident command training really helped, [they are] not part of social work training, how they work together, [and] chain of command, it’s not typically [found] in social work ... [need] to shift thinking from clinical aspects to broader supports.

Social work practitioners and human service professionals are increasingly involved in post-disaster contexts. However, attempts to understand their professional role in disaster-affected communities have focused largely on the delivery of short-term relief services. The 2016 Alberta wildfire resulted in the mobilisation and engagement of social work practitioners and human service professionals to meet the needs of individuals, families, groups and affected community members. The study 'In the Aftermath of the 2016 Alberta Wildfires: Experiences of Social Work Practitioners and Human Service Professionals in Long-Term Disaster Recovery' aims to identify the roles and responsibilities of social work practitioners and human service professionals in the context of the wildfires in Fort McMurray, AB, Canada.
On 4 May 2016, the Alberta government declared a provincial state of emergency and issued a mandatory evacuation order of approximately 88,000 residents in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and Fort McMurray area (Government of Alberta, 2016b). Extreme fire conditions contributed to numerous wildfires burning out of control, covering 589,995 hectares (Government of Alberta, 2016c). The Wood Buffalo Ministerial Recovery Task Force was established to ensure safety and security in affected areas; to support the needs of the communities; to plan for the timely re-entry of residents and to support the resumption of municipal, economic and business activities (Government of Alberta, 2016a). Voluntary re-entry into Fort McMurray was initiated on 1 June 2016 and the community rebuilding and recovery efforts are ongoing. Additional services and programmes have been introduced to meet the diverse needs of individuals, families, groups and affected community members during the recovery period. Very little research has examined the role of social work practitioners and human service professionals working in long-term disaster recovery in Alberta and in Canada. This is largely the result of emergency management practices that focus on delivering 'emergency social services' within 72 h of an event. This article aims to enhance understandings of the roles and contributions of social work practitioners and human service professionals in disasters with a particular focus on long-term disaster recovery. The findings are timely given the current COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing long-term disaster recovery processes in Alberta, and the global impacts of climate change that contribute to more extreme and intense hazards.

Literature review
Disasters have a catastrophic impact on the well-being of individuals, families, groups and communities (Gillespie and Danso, 2010;Zakour, 2010). In the last decade over 700,000 people lost their lives, over 1.4 million were injured and approximately 23 million were made homeless as a result of disasters (United Nations Development Programme, 2014;Wahlströ m, 2015). A disaster is an event that results in serious harm to the safety, health or welfare of people or in widespread damage to property (AEMA, 2016). Disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity, often exacerbated by climate change, environmental degradation, population growth, increased urbanisation, unsustainable development in hazard-prone areas and widening social and economic disparities (Zakour, 2010;Dominelli and Ioakimidis, 2015;United Nations, 2015a;GOA, 2016b). According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), from 2010 to 2015, disasters have forced 159.2 million people worldwide to be relocated from their homes (IDMC, 2015(IDMC, , 2016. Communities with limited capacity to prepare for, respond to and rebound from disasters have been especially hard hit. It is well documented in the literature that disasters strike hardest at the most vulnerable groups, the poor, especially women, children and older people, and the most vulnerable disproportionately experience the negative effects (Thomas and Twynam, 2006). The Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (United Nations, 2015b) states that 'it is urgent and critical to anticipate, plan for and reduce disaster risk in order to more effectively protect persons, communities, and countries, their livelihoods, health, cultural heritage, socioeconomic assets and ecosystems, and thus strengthen their resilience' (p. 10).
Previous research on social work and disasters has focused predominantly on the need to prepare social work practitioners in short-term disaster relief efforts, with far less attention paid to the long-term consequences (Streeter and Murty, 1996;Zakour, 2010). Yet the involvement of social workers is increasing through the provision of social services, community redevelopment, trauma counselling, psychosocial support, advocacy, assessment, service coordination, outreach and advice on policy and practice in times of disaster (Mathbor and Bourassa, 2012;Miller, 2012;Alston, 2013;Cooper and Briggs, 2014;Mannakkara et al., 2015). Despite this new reality, the profession of social work lacks education and training that reflects the complexities associated with human service and community disaster management in the Canadian context (Dominelli, 2013;Sim et al., 2013). There is an urgent need to enhance knowledge on how disasters and environmental degradation can be better integrated into the social work profession and curriculum (Coates, 2005;Pyles, 2007;Bliss and Meehan, 2008;McKinnon, 2008;Jones, 2010;Alston and Besthorn, 2012;Global Agenda, 2012;Peeters, 2012). The most effective way to build this knowledge is to conduct research that will engage social work practitioners and human service professionals in order to produce empirically sound theories, policies and practice recommendations; and to build capacity in the profession (Gillespie and Danso, 2010;UNDP, 2014). This is particularly important given the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals that aim to integrate environmental dimensions into social and economic development (United Nations, 2015a), and the recently adopted Sendai Framework and Paris Agreement on climate change.
Social workers have important contributions to make to disaster recovery through their expertise in working with at-risk and vulnerable populations (Drolet, 2019). A new global definition of social work passed in July 2014 provides the following: Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion and the empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work. Underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledge, social work engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing (IFSW, 2014).
Several theoretical perspectives informed the design of the study and served as the lens for understanding the data generated.

Theoretical framework
In order to understand the experiences of social work practitioners and human service professionals in the Alberta wildfires, it is necessary to consider a theoretical framework that incorporates a psychosocial approach, and the concepts of disaster recovery and resilience. The psychosocial approach consists of interventions that are designed to help individuals, families, groups and communities recover from disasters by attending to disaster preparedness, response and recovery (Mannakkara et al., 2015;AHS, 2017). The psychosocial approach is based on psychosocial capacity building which seeks to sustainably build local capacities and resources (Mannakkara et al., 2015) and psychosocial support to promote and/or protect well-being and/or prevention of mental health concerns (IASC, 2007). The psychosocial approach adopts a communityfocused, person-centred approach to promoting resilience in all stages of disaster (AHS, 2017).
Disaster recovery is defined as the restoration of conditions to an acceptable level through measures taken after a disaster (AEMA, 2016). There is a strong relationship between long-term sustainable recovery and the prevention and mitigation of future disasters (AEMA, 2016). Individual recovery refers to the return of individuals and families to regular day-to-day functioning and adapting to a 'new normal' in changed circumstances (AEMA, 2016). Long-term community recovery refers to the need to re-establish a healthy, functioning community that will sustain itself over time (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2005).
Resilience is defined as both an individual capacity to identify and access resources (e.g. psychological, social, cultural and physical) and the individual and collective ability to ensure the equitable and culturally relevant provision and access to these resources (Ungar, 2011a(Ungar, , 2011b. This definition shifts our understanding of resilience from an individual concept to a relational understanding embedded in a social-ecological framework (Ungar, 2007). Enhancing resilience calls for strengths and empowerment approaches and requires strong social and government institutions to support efforts to cope with adverse events such as social protection and social development initiatives (Long and Tice, 2009;Zakour, 2010;Midgley, 2014;Drolet and Todd, 2020). The theoretical and epistemological framework upon which the study is built incorporates this understanding of resilience. This research is designed to better understand human society-environment interactions based on the perspectives of social work practitioners and human service professionals.

Methods
A constructivist paradigm holds that there are multiple, socially constructed realities of people's lived experiences (Guba and Lincoln, 2005;Denzin and Lincoln, 2011). This paradigm is useful to identify multiple values and perspectives through qualitative methods. Principles of community-based research that is reflective of diverse contexts are appropriate to learn from the perspectives and experiences of those engaged in disaster response (Nikku, 2013). This research intentionally mixes paradigmatic assumptions to promote contributions of different perspectives and different ways of knowing to the comprehensiveness of inquiry findings and interpretations (Charmaz, 2005). The research design involved student research assistants and student training in all phases.
Interviews with key informants provided direct practice understanding, knowledge and information. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews examined perspectives and experiences of social work practitioners and human service professionals with respect to their roles in long-term recovery. Interviews (approximately 45 min long) focused on understanding the role of social work and social services in long-term disaster recovery. A purposive sampling approach was used and 40 interview participants were recruited to learn about their roles and experiences in long-term recovery. Participants were recruited from diverse workplaces including community organisations, non-profits and government agencies who were involved in recovery efforts.
The inclusion criteria for participation required direct experience in the provision of social services in the context of the 2016 wildfire. The number of participants met the standard to provide data that met saturation in qualitative interviews (Glaser, 2002;Creswell, 2014). Social service agencies and the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSWs) assisted with recruitment by sharing notices and posters through their listserve with potential participants. All of the interviews were conducted virtually by Zoom or telephone due to social distancing protocols during the COVID-19 lockdown from June to September 2020.
Interviews were audio-recorded with the permission of the participant and field notes were written up and analysed for interpretations. Interviews were transcribed and coded for thematic analysis. Whilst reviewing, researchers added memos to data texts. Transcripts were analysed using open coding, axial coding and selecting coding to identify emerging themes, links and associations. The themes were generalised to identify key aspects of experience and answers to the research questions. Coded quotes were extracted for preliminary analysis, compared within and between cases and grouped according to key themes. A thematic framework was developed based on the relationships between themes. Thematic framework patterns were interpreted to address research questions and objectives. Data collected through the methods were separately analysed and then integrated for final analysis. Data collected from different participants provided a vivid description of the roles and responsibilities of social work practitioners and human service professionals in long-term recovery. Research ethics approval was obtained by the University of Calgary's Human Research Ethics Board and all participants provided their written informed consent in advance of data collection. Each participant was provided with a $20 e-gift card in appreciation for their participation in the study.
The majority of participants worked full time (n ¼ 30-81 per cent) and there were five working part-time (14 per cent), one currently unemployed (3 per cent) and one retired (3 per cent). Participants worked in various professional capacities or roles including administration, child protection and children services, mental health and addictions, clinical supervision, trauma counselling, income support, school and family outreach, private practice, psychotherapy, acute critical care, home care, social work education, immigration, housing and community development. Most participants were registered social workers with the ACSW (n ¼ 32-86 per cent).

Findings
The interviews and their analysis pointed to four themes: 1) social work practice in disaster contexts; 2) social work role in disaster management; 3) building capacity and 4) advocacy, wellness and self-care. Each of the themes are discussed below.

Social work practice in disaster contexts
The majority of the participants agreed that social work practice offered a unique contribution in disaster contexts. The uniqueness of a social work approach in disasters was perceived to be related to the values of social work and code of ethics, and the profession's focus on the social dimensions of disaster. Many participants spoke of how social work recognised the importance of client self-determination, working to advance human dignity and respect, social justice and provided assistance in a professional and supportive manner. It was discussed that social work practice is relevant to all categories of disaster. Yet many participants described that there was a need for a greater acknowledgement of social work's unique and valuable contribution by emergency and disaster management officials. Social work practice in disaster contexts was described by a participant as Being able to see the person in context rather than the individual . . . we see the ripple effects all the time, and that is what social in social work means . . . and it is important to see what we can do to influence the bigger context. Social work practitioners were described as compassionate, caring and adaptable in various environments. Social work practice occurs at the micro, mezzo and macro level, from clinical practice to community development to policy interventions. The participants in the study worked in various contexts and organisations, including health, educational, community and social services. Some participants worked in private practice Social Work Practitioners and Human Service Professionals 1669 during the wildfires with adults, children and youth, primarily in individual frontline counselling through Employee and Family Assistance Programme (EFAP) and other private insurance.
All of the participants played a role in the 2016 Alberta wildfire response and/or recovery, and some of the participants were amongst the evacuees. Many of the participants identified the COVID-19 pandemic as similar to other disaster events given the widespread disruption and need to adapt quickly. Some participants worked in other disaster events such as the 2013 Alberta floods, and a few participants described their many years of disaster experience gained from the 2011 Slave Lake wildfire, 2002 Conklin wildfire, 2000 Pine Lake tornado and 1987 Edmonton tornado, as well as other events (e.g. accidents and deaths) particularly in rural and indigenous communities.
Many of the participants explained that whilst they were professionally trained within their scope of practice, they did not feel adequately prepared for practicing in a disaster context. Some participants explained that they needed new knowledge and skills post-wildfire, and several participants spoke of professional development courses in specialty areas they completed in order to practice effectively post-wildfire. A participant stated 'sometimes you assume you are prepared but [it's] mostly unexpected.' The importance of trauma-informed practice, disaster risk management, knowledge of loss and grief, active listening and crisis skills were identified as beneficial for practicing in a disaster context. Some participants discussed that it was difficult to feel prepared during the wildfire evacuation because there were few warnings and the entire community was caught off guard. For example, a participant explained that she had clients booked on the day of the evacuation and she continued to provide support to families by telephone as they were evacuating the community. Disaster-affected social work practitioners explained that 'it was hard to provide support to others when you are personally impacted.' Similarly, during the re-entry, participants discussed how they were expected to resume their professional work without a home and to provide counselling when the entire community was traumatised by the same event.
Nobody knows how to work in these situations because they're different. Everyone had a different idea, it was a chaotic environment, and we were pulled in many directions. (Interview participant) Participants who had lived in Fort McMurray prior to the wildfire explained how their knowledge of the community and their networks assisted them in the recovery, as well as prior disaster experience and training. A participant explained '[I] had so much experience, [I] knew how to hit the ground running, who to contact what's required, what's needed.' Many social work practitioners did not have a disaster preparedness plan at the time of the wildfire, but stated that they had developed a personal plan or were working on it.
Theories that informed social work practice in a disaster context included trauma and complex trauma, ecological systems theory, person in environment approach, strengths-based approach, community development, anti-colonial and anti-racist theories, indigenous knowledge, wellness and self-care, systems theory, anti-oppressive social work and social connections. Participants highlighted specific practice theories such as person-centred and solution focused, client centred approaches, trauma informed practice, crisis response, motivational interviewing and critical incident stress management (CISM) as important. Best practice therapies identified included Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR) and new EMDR-type options that were perceived to have positive benefits to resolve trauma in the body and to help reframe situations. Several participants discussed the importance of recognising that people respond differently to disasters, and the need to approach every person in the moment based on their needs. Of particular importance, an understanding of the history of colonisation in Canada was needed in order to avoid risk of further colonising in a disaster event.

Social work role in disaster management
It was found that social work practitioners and human services professionals saw a role for their practice in disaster preparedness, response and recovery. Many of the participants identified a connection between disaster recovery and the need to 'build back better' in order to be disaster prepared for the future. As stated by a participant: Critical for social work to be at the table in disaster management. Focus on 'building back better' to meet human and social needs by amplifying the voices of marginalized and/or disempowered individuals and families.
Participants identified the need for individuals and organisations, particularly workplaces, to have a disaster plan that covers both response and recovery. One interviewee succinctly stated, 'it's not routine social work practice.' One of the most effective strategies in long-term disaster recovery was engaging in disaster planning and developing a disaster preparedness plan. For example, business continuity plans for non-profit agencies were perceived as necessary in order to become more disaster prepared. The majority of participants expressed that they did not feel prepared prior to the wildfire, including both new graduates and experienced practitioners. Further, some participants explained that virtual tools were needed for frontline workers and managers to be set up for remote work with appropriate technology and access to laptop computers, virtual files and contacts post wildfire. By becoming disaster prepared after the wildfire, some participants were able to continue practicing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the disaster response phase, a participant identified the need 'to have a coordinated response with the various community, provincial and even federal players'. Another interviewee stated that 'social workers excel when others go home, bringing empathy, collaboration, assessment and connection to resources'. Flexibility was also perceived as a key trait in disaster contexts; it was described as: Definitely on the toes work. So we learned as we went along, and we did the best to cope with the tools that we had.
The recovery phase was perceived as the longest stage in disaster management and participants underlined the need for sustained financial resources juxtaposed against the timing that funding usually runs out. Participants explained that mental health concerns arose in long-term recovery, requiring tertiary care and the participants working with clients explained how they continue to see the impacts of the wildfires daily in their practice. Even though the wildfires took place 4 years ago, community members continued to struggle, and participants recognised that the recovery intersected with the economic downturn, the global COVID-19 pandemic and extensive flooding that occurred on 28 April 2020. There is an opportunity to further research the impact of the needs of individuals and families who experience multiple disasters. Some participants discussed how some residents met these new challenges with a sense of increased resilience and survivorship, but other residents were triggered from their prior lived experiences including the wildfire. A participant expressed: Never had the opportunity to get stable again, [people were] out of home long-term, not meeting basic needs, unable to progress to acknowledge trauma. The long term displacement made people get stuck. Complex trauma with flood and COVID-19. Many felt we could not trust the community.
Many of the study participants discussed other challenges inherent in the stages of disaster management, such as differences in the opinions of the level of care required at the time; understanding the disaster exposure on vulnerable or marginalised individuals and how best to mitigate the effects; working in unsafe and less than ideal conditions; working with underqualified staff and volunteers and repeated over and over again, the lack of adequate resources, especially in a northern and remote community.

Building capacity
Training prior to the disaster (incident command, business continuity and building a strong team) was seen as valuable and the majority of participants stated there is a need to obtain disaster focused training prior to the next disaster event. Many identified the need to learn about the disaster management structure, grief and loss, trauma, community recovery frameworks, disaster resources and self-care. Participants said there is a need for specialised and standardised training on crisis and disaster management in social work education. One participant said: Disaster response, crisis management, incident command training really helped, [they are] not part of social work training, how they work together, [and] chain of command, it's not typically [found] in social work . . .
[need] to shift thinking from clinical aspects to broader supports.
To build capacity, participants recommended training in Psychological First Aid (PFA), Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR), Emergency Preparedness, Incident Command Systems (ICS 100, 200, 300), CISM, EMDR, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Mental Health First Aid, trauma informed practice and complex trauma, community recovery frameworks and learning disaster response and recovery resources and plans. There was also awareness of the need to learn more about wellness and self-care to avoid vicarious trauma and burnout.
Participants discussed how social workers were not used to their full capacity during the wildfire. Some participants spoke of the many agencies in the community that were shut down due to the wildfires, which created waitlists for services. Participants advised that social workers needed to remain calm, flexible, level-headed and be knowledgeable about resources and systems during the disaster and be able to take care of themselves. One participant stated '[social workers] need to feel confident in disaster context, build relationships before a disaster [and] take breaks.' Some participants identified the need to develop a support system in times of disaster and suggested the social work professional association could offer that support.
Participants spoke about the need to build capacity in agency staffing, as new staff had to be recruited due to the declined population demographic post-wildfire. Social service agencies were challenged to pay salaries and/or their bills, struggling to maintain their mission as board of directors were not available. Some participants spoke of the need for additional resources to support the psychological impact of the disaster for first responders. It was mentioned several times that there was a need to build capacity for additional mental health resources, affordable housing, transportation, jobs, treatment centres, information from the municipal and provincial government and to better support immigrants and indigenous peoples.

Advocacy, wellness and self-care
Participants engaged in advocacy directly with and on behalf of disasteraffected individuals, families, groups and communities, as well as with insurance companies, government systems and workplaces. Several participants spoke of their advocacy role to facilitate better access to supports and resources such as financial and income supports, and accessible mental health services. Advocacy was also used to address occupational stress injuries with Workers Compensation Board (WCB) and Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP).
The majority of participants considered wellness and self-care in their practice post-disaster. Several participants discussed the four quadrants of the indigenous medicine wheel (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual) that affected the body, mind and spirit. Most participants recognised the importance of wellness and self-care in all aspects of the recovery especially for those living in the community or serving in another community. Many were aware of vicarious trauma and how they were personally affected, for example: Wellness and self-care in the context of the wildfire needed to be better recognised particularly in some workplaces; a participant said that more continual information was being shared during the COVID-19 pandemic than was shared in the wildfire. Debriefing support, adequate and quality supervision, working regular hours, access to supervisors, taking breaks, eating meals and having someone to call were perceived as critical for wellness in the context of the workplace. A participant advised that 'future social workers [must] make it a priority even when you think you can't. Ensure it [wellness] is a priority all the time not just when you need it.' Similarly, a participant explained that she considers wellness and self-care 'every day, the fire has changed my view on how I live, eat, exercise, and my social network. Changed the way I live . . . I do not want to burnout, and not be able to be employed.' Participants found that the wildfire affected their social work practice because they became more compassionate and more personal and empathetic. Some identified feeling overloaded with work, particularly practitioners who experienced and incurred losses due to the wildfire. It was discussed by a participant that it was challenging to engage in social work practice 'in navigating child protection with closed offices' and the 'low level sense of chaos occurring is heightened during fires' which added work pressure and stress in the moment. The wildfire scarred the physical environment and many community members did not return. The wildfire was seen as an opportunity to further learn about disasters, to gain a different perspective and to change the dynamics of the community.
Some participants discussed that indigenous communities were not directly impacted yet the wildfires triggered historical and intergenerational trauma. Similarly, some participants discussed the traumatic effects of the evacuation process and the lack of information for indigenous communities.

Conclusion
Social work practitioners and human service professionals are increasingly responding to disasters in their practice (Drolet, 2019). With the growing recognition of the need to address the psychosocial repercussions of disaster on those directly impacted and those who respond, there is a need to build capacity for disaster recovery and resilience (Hoffer and Martin, 2019). It is clear from the interviews conducted that many recognise the importance of being prepared for disaster social work practice.
Previous research (Coates, 2005;Bliss and Meehan, 2008;Alston, 2013;Mannakkara et al., 2015;Dominelli and Ioakimidis, 2015) has identified social work interventions following environmental disasters in practice and policy domains. In Canada, social work practice responds to the needs of individuals, families, groups and communities and addresses barriers and injustices in organizations and society (CASW, 2020). Social work engages people and communities to address life challenges and traumatic events, to create change and to build resiliency (CASW, 2020). The roles and responsibilities within the scope of social work practice include the delivery of clinical services; advocacy; community development; supervision; management and leadership; the development, implementation and evaluation of social policies; education and professional development and research and evaluation (CASW, 2020). The 2016 Alberta wildfire had a lasting impact on the way in which social workers perceive their practice related, in part, to the complex factors intersecting with the recovery processes.
Each disaster is unique and requires a different response (Hoffer and Martin, 2019). The findings show that disaster-affected communities and practitioners face multiple challenges in mitigating the spread and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during an economic downturn that affects wildfire and flood recovery initiatives. The findings demonstrate that disasters are multi-layered and have long-term effects, which intersect with other social, economic, health and environmental challenges during the recovery period. The prevalence of disasters caused by pandemics, climate change and other risks will continue to disrupt communities in the future. Social support systems and services are crucial to long-term recovery, and social workers are unique in considering the needs of vulnerable populations and intervening at the micro, mezzo and macro level. In order to build more resilient communities and systems, there is an important role Social Work Practitioners and Human Service Professionals 1675 for social work practitioners and human service professionals to mitigate risks and to reduce adverse impacts. Supportive practices and strategies in social work practice during long-term disaster recovery included advocacy, wellness and self-care, building social connections, embedding recovery work in regular operations, facilitating access to mental health supports and building disaster preparedness.
We wish to offer the following recommendations for the social work profession: 1. Social workers should be identified as first responders and essential workers in disaster and emergency contexts. 2. There is a need to create opportunities for social workers to support each other during a disaster (e.g. peer support with social workers from a different municipality connecting with social workers who are responding), especially for practitioners in private practice. 3. Professional social work associations, such as the ACSWs, could play a role in supporting social workers in disaster contexts, offering disaster training to build capacity, creating a social work disaster committee and advocating to the federal government on the needs of indigenous peoples in disasters. 4. Disaster management should be integrated in the social work profession. Social work education should include coursework on disaster preparedness and trauma-informed practice. There is a need to build awareness and identify promising practices for social workers in disaster management. 5. Professional social work associations need to acknowledge the importance of the natural and physical environment in social work and transform social work practice to address the impacts of climate change and related disasters in daily work. 6. A database or network of trained social workers in disasters should be created. 7. Social workers are provided and encouraged to use work time for wellness and self-care during and after responding to a disaster. This article shows the roles and contributions that social workers offer in disaster preparedness, response and recovery, as told by the social workers who assisted in the 2016 Alberta wildfire. There is a need to continue researching the role for social workers in disasters to be aligned with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and Paris Agreement on climate change.

Funding
This research was supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).