The New Brunswick government will give an update on the provincial wildfire situation at 2:30 p.m. AT Saturday.
Premier Susan Holt, Minister of Natural Resources John Herron and Minister of Justice Rob McKee, on behalf of Public Safety, will take part.
Roger Collet, a wildfire prevention officer, will also be answering questions.
CBC will broadcast the livestream.
As of Friday midnight, the DNR put a ban on forestry operations such as harvesting, forwarding, skidding, scarification, chipping and all pre-commercial thinning and cleaning on all forested Crown and private lands across the province.
The ban on forestry operations will be in effect until midnight Aug. 12, the release said.
Trucking, road construction and maintenance, vegetation management and tree planting are still allowed to continue, said the department.
The entire province including provincial parks remain under a burn ban.
A wildfire which broke out earlier in the week on Oldfield Road, about 16 kilometres north of Miramichi, has grown to approximately 160 hectares, New Brunswick’s Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Nick Brown said in an email on Saturday morning.
“Over the next several days, the province is expected to remain under extreme fire weather conditions, with high winds, high temperature, and low humidity,” said Brown.
“It is a very dangerous situation with the state of fuels [ignitable materials in the forests].”
Two water bomber airplanes from Quebec are assisting with the ongoing extinguishing operation, he said.
Fires that started on Friday in St. Paul and near Harvey are under control,” Brown said.
Highway 8 near Miramichi between Route 450 and Oldfield Road is currently closed, according to the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization. Russellville Road and McHardy Road are also closed with diversions in place.
