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There are four wildfires burning out of control across Newfoundland and Labrador, according to the provincial wildfire dashboard.
A regional state of emergency was declared on Saturday for the Bay De Verde peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, from Bristol’s Hope to Whiteway.
The Kingston wildfire remains out-of-control in Conception Bay North and provincial fire duty officer Mark Lawlor said it has grown to more than 5,000 hectares in size but as of Sunday evening they weren’t able to map it due to smoky conditions.
“It has been a challenging weekend,” Lawlor told CBC Radio’s The St. John’s Morning Show.
Lawlor said the current hot and dry weather conditions are not helping efforts to fight the fire.
“There still is fuel ahead of the fire, and with southwest and southerly winds it will continue to push it… up the Bay de Verde Peninsula.”
He said water bombers are going to be focusing on the fire’s northern boundary, adding its difficult to put firefighters there safely because it’s where the fire is most active.
On Sunday there were four water bombers working on its northern boundary as well as helicopters flying around the communities, putting out hot spots and trying to minimize damage, said Lawlor.
He added crews were able to work on the fire’s southern and southwest boundaries. The Canadian Coast Guard also helped with its helicopter assets to move crews and carry out survey work.
“It is big. However, and not to minimize this, the fire in central in 2020 that was about 25,000 hectares,” he said.
Lawlor said crews continue to build a fire guard on the fire’s southern boundary, removing vegetation so the fire will have less fuel.
Lawlor said hoses are now totally surrounding the Holyrood fire, which is listed as being held. On Sunday morning crews only found two to three hot spots and they were able to put them out.
“So that’s a positive there.”
Lawlor said the Martin Lake is still out of control and it is still considered to be “very active.” Over the weekend the fire increased slightly in size but he said they are maintaining its southern boundary.
A water bomber and New Brunswick air tractors were working on the fire on Sunday.
Lawlor said there is progress building a fire guard on the fire’s northern side and he hopes it will be done in the next few days.
He also believes the fire is about four kilometres from the Bay d’Espoir Highway and while the highway is still open, he said that could change.
Travelers along the highway will see and smell smoke but Lawlor hopes they can minimize the amount of smoke and keep the fire from advancing toward the highway.
According to the provincial wildfire dashboard, on Labrador there are two wildfires burning out of control, the Udjuktok Bay fire and the Traverspine fire, located 19 kilometres south of Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
According to the provincial fire hazard map, as of Monday morning the vast majority of the island of Newfoundland is at an extreme risk of fire, whereas Labrador ranges from a low risk to very high.
A province wide fire ban in still effect and on Friday the provincial government announced fines for violating the ban are now $50,000 to $150,000, and up to a year imprisonment.
On Monday the St. John’s Regional Fire Department reported it had notified authorities of three illegal fires overnight.
The provincial government announced in a social media post the health authority is temporarily opening a primary care pop-up clinic at the Carbonear Community Health Services Building on Monday.
Meteorologist Veronica Sullivan said the forecast remains poor for fighting the wildfires.
She said the northern and northwest Avalon Peninsula will have high temperatures on Monday and winds will be blowing from the southwest at 30 kilometres per hour, gusting up to 50 kilometres per hour.
“It’s not great for fire behaviour and spread. Those strong winds and dry conditions make it really hard to fight against the wildfire spread,” she told CBC Radio’s The St. John’s Morning Show.
Environment Canada has heat warnings across Newfoundland and Labrador and Sullivan said she expects the heat warning for the northern Avalon and eastern Newfoundland to persist until later in the week.
“So we won’t see a reprieve from that heat until Thursday rolls along,” said Sullivan.
A low pressure system could bring a few showers to eastern Newfoundland, she said but added it’s several days away and the forecast could change.
“Until then, it’s more of the same — just hot temperatures and little relief at night as the lows overnight are between 18 and 20 degrees.”
Mark Ploughman, a councillor with Small Point-Adam’s Cove-Blackhead-Broad Cove, said the town is helping evacuees with things like transportation and accessing medication.
“We’re there for not just our residents, but also the residents of the surrounding communities who are our neighbours, who are in unincorporated municipalities.”
He said people who own dwellings that have been destroyed have been notified.
Ploughman said evacuees are facing major dilemmas, like waiting for news on when they will be able to return to their homes and whether their homes are still standing or if there is smoke damage. He added power was cut off to the community, so food might have to be thrown out.
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