Bob Mackin
What if a wildfire breaks out in Washington State or British Columbia during FIFA World Cup 26 and envelops the region in smoke?
That concern is expressed in Washington Emergency Management Division (EMD) documents obtained by theBreaker.news after a freedom of information request to the Washington Military Department (WMD).
EMD meets with counterparts at B.C.’s Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness. According to notes from Feb. 20, “their analysis and findings have been similar.”
Wildfire near Port Alberni, B.C. in August 2025. (B.C. Wildfire Service/Facebook)
“These include: limited resources to support running the event or to respond to a large-scale disaster, wildfire impacts could have negative effects on evacuation options, notifications in the incident of stranded Canadian citizens in U.S. or U.S. citizens stranded in Canada.”
Who was there
Safety and Security Executive Steering Committee (SSESC) meeting attendees included: Robert Ezelle, the director of Washington’s EMD, John Diaz, the former Seattle Police chief who is now chief security officer for Seattle’s World Cup committee, and officials from Seattle city hall, King County and the Secret Service.
Then and now
Wildfires also topped a list under “competing regional incidents and/or events” in a presentation from a July 2024 SSESC meeting.
Others: Overwhelmed transportation corridors and ports of entry, manpower and overlapping priorities and lines of effort.
It said previous World Cups faced threats from: terrorism, political unrest, cybersecurity, crowd control, infrastructure security, public health concerns and tourist crime and personal safety.
Seattle and Vancouver World Cup logos. (FIFA)
Cascadia schedule
Vancouver is hosting seven matches from June 13-July 7 at B.C. Place Stadium and Seattle six matches between June 15-July 6 at Lumen Field. The cities are the closest, border-separated World Cup cities.
Both cities will also hold large-scale, FIFA Fan Festival viewing parties during the June 11-July 19 tournament: at Vancouver’s Hastings Park and Seattle Center.
At the end of April, FIFA’s 76th Congress is coming to the Vancouver Convention Centre, the only World Cup year event with executives of all 211 member nations under one roof.
B.C.=big costs
The Vancouver Integrated Safety and Security Unit (ISSU) is co-led by City of Vancouver’s Dave Jones, B.C. assistant deputy minister of public safety Lisa Sweet and Vancouver Police Supt. Andrew Chan. The 18 members include the RCMP, which is relying on existing resources.
Department of Canadian Heritage granted $116 million last year to Vancouver and $104 million to Toronto.
Will there be an increase in the Nov. 4 federal budget?
When it revealed in June that the hosting cost increased to as much as $624 million, the B.C. government said it and partners “anticipate the federal government will be a full partner in helping to manage and fund extraordinary risks that materialize for the FIFA World Cup 26 event, such as potential global economic downturns, natural disasters like fires and floods and increasing threat levels from rising geopolitical tensions.”
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