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Wildfires continue to burn across Newfoundland and Labrador, and while temperatures remain hot and windy, the provincial fire duty officer says suppression efforts will carry on.
Thousands of people are either under evacuation orders or an evacuation alert.
Provincial fire duty officer Mark Lawlor said the Paddy’s Pond fire did not grow overnight and is now 212 hectares.
“The growth yesterday was less than we expected so that was a positive yesterday. The suppression efforts were very successful on that fire. In saying that, today is going to be another hot, windy day,” Lawlor told CBC Radio’s The St. John’s Morning Show.
The provincial fire hazard map still considers most of the island of Newfoundland as at an extreme risk of fire, with the west coast considered to be between high and extremely high risk of fire. Labrador is considered to be between moderate and very high risk of fire.
Lawlor said given the extreme risk of fire in the area, there is potential for increased fire behaviour at the Paddy’s Pond fire but he hopes to make progress on suppressing it Wednesday and to keep the fire away from the nearby communities.
The Kingston fire in Conception Bay North also continued to burn out of control.
Lawlor said there was some growth on the fire’s northern boundary on Tuesday, adding that high temperatures and high winds in the area created extreme fire behaviour.
He added they are continuing with the construction of fire breaks on the southern and northern edge.
Ground crews and aircraft fought the Kingston fire on Tuesday and they will be back on Wednesday, he added.
Lawlor called the Holyrood fire, which is being held, “a success story,” adding, “We’re monitoring that fire and there was no activity there yesterday.”
In central Newfoundland, Lawlor said the Martin Lake fire is still being fought. However, the fire overwhelmed the resources they had on site Tuesday and fire moved, he said. He said it is now 800 hectares.
On Tuesday a section of the Bay d’Espoir Highway closed.
A new fire broke out in Spaniard’s Bay on Tuesday, near the Anglican cemetery on Maul Tree Hill, and residents of Brown’s Road were asked to evacuate and go to the town hall.
Lawlor said it was “knocked down” Tuesday evening by the local volunteer fire department, the provincial forestry department officials as well as some air assets.
“Unfortunately we had a flare up last night but it was, the local fire department went in and they took care of that,” said Lawlor.
Mayor Paul Brazil said firefighters were at the site overnight, hosing down flare ups.
“Everybody was nervous,” he said.
Brazil said people rallied together to support one another after some residents were evacuated, dropping off snacks and drinks, as well as keeping each other informed about the situation.
He added former firefighters called up and offered their services and urged people to not loiter to watch the fires because it gets in the way of emergency responders.
“At times we had 14 people required just to do traffic controlling in time. That’s a lot of resources,” said Brazil.
In Labrador, the Taverspine fire, located about 19 kilometres south of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, is now listed as being held.
Lawlor said their management team is coping well with the available resources and ordering assets from other provinces as they are available.
“It’s a complex situation with many moving parts,” said Lawlor. “Overall we’re very pleased with the way things are being handled.
Premier John Hogan is giving a wildfire update on Wednesday at 10 a.m. NT.
An evacuation order was issued for the Three Island Pond area in Paradise late Tuesday afternoon, coming on the heels of the provincial government issuing a regional state of emergency Tuesday afternoon for parts of St. John’s, Paradise, and Conception Bay South, as the Paddy’s Pond wildfire continued to burn out of control just outside of St. John’s.
An evacuation alert is in place for the Southlands and Galway neighbourhoods of St. John’s, as well as parts of Paradise and Conception Bay South.
Environment Canada has two weather alerts issued for the province — an air quality statement is in effect for the northern Avalon Peninsula and St. John’s area, as well as a heat warning for most of the province.
Meteorologist Mike VandenBerg said there is a chance of a minor shower on the northern Avalon on Thursday
“But it’s quite a slight chance, unfortunately.”
VandenBerg said temperatures will remain high and as of Wednesday morning he said the wind is blowing in a south and southwesterly direction, and it will pick up to gusts around 50 kilometres per hour.
“Unfortunately what that’s going to mean is it’s going to keep the smoke in and around the [St. John’s] metro through the day today.”
He added winds will switch to a more southerly direction overnight and into Thursday, so he said that’s good news as it will push the smoke out of the city but it will impact areas around Conception Bay South.
“No matter where you are, someone’s going to be getting the smoke. Just an unfortunate reality,” said VandenBerg.
But he said temperatures are expected to cool in the coming days.
“We’re really keeping our fingers crossed for any sort of rain going forward.”
Steve Crocker, the MHA for Carbonear–Trinity–Bay de Verde, said people haven’t seen a wildfire season like this in a long time and what is needed is rain.
He said his role is to work with his colleague to ensure available resources are used, as well as to help plan for additional steps they can take to help people in the region.
“When this fire is out, there’s still going to be a lot of extreme amount of work that will need to be done in the coming weeks, coming months and coming years,” said Crocker.
Crocker added the government will be there to assist people as they rebuild, and the role of government will be to help in the immediate aftermath and the long term.
He said the dry, hot and windy conditions are also a challenge.
Some health care services are being negatively impacted by the wildfires.
The Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services said elective and day surgeries scheduled for Wednesday are being postponed at the Health Sciences Centre, Janeway Children’s Health and Rehabilitation Centre and St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital in St. John’s.
In a statement, it said the decision was made over worries around staffing being impacted by the evacuation alerts and orders. It added surgeries will be rescheduled and surgeries planned for the rest of the week will be assessed.
“NL Health Services would like to reassure the public that all urgent and emergent health-care services are not affected at this time and the emergency departments remain open,” the health authority said.
It added outpatient services, laboratory and medical imaging appointments, public health, mental health and other community-based appointments are not impacted.
The Canada Summer Games is also being impacted by the ongoing wildfires. Late Tuesday night it was announced beach volleyball and sailing events scheduled for Wednesday are being postponed again.
Baseball games that were going to take place at the Team Gushue Sports Complex are being relocated to St. Pat’s Ballpark and the lacrosse games will remain at DF Barnes Arena.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and working with the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre, the City of St. John’s, the Towns of Paradise and Conception Bay South, and our National Sport Organizations to adjust competition plans as needed,” the organization said in a statement on social media.
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