'Many, many lives turned upside down' by wildfires: N.S. premier
Nova Scotia’s premier says the “historic” wildfires in the province have caused a “breath-taking amount of damage.”
“Weather has favoured the fires all week, not the firefighters. We’re hopeful this will soon change,” Premier Tim Houston said during a news conference Friday.
Province-wide there are 14 active wildfires, four of which are out of control, and the fires cover about 23,000 hectares of land as of Friday afternoon.
In Shelburne, more than 5,000 residents have been evacuated — representing half of the community’s population. During peak evacuations in the Halifax area, more than 16,000 were forced to leave their homes.
“This is historic,” Scott Tingley, manager of forest protection with the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, said, adding that the fire in Shelburne County is the largest recorded wildfire in the province’s history.
“Through all this despair, zero deaths, zero missing persons, zero serious injuries. This says a lot about the professionalism of our first responders leading the response,” the premier said.
“No lives lost, but an absolutely breath-taking amount of damage and many, many lives turned upside down.”
About 150 homes have been destroyed by fires in the Halifax Regional Municipality and officials in Shelburne estimate about 50 homes have been destroyed, though a fulsome assessment of damage in the area has not been completed.
The premier thanked New Brunswick, P.E.I., Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario Friday for providing equipment and or firefighters to work alongside Nova Scotia’s many firefighting crews.
“It means so much. The national system of provinces helping provinces is working,” Houston said.
As well, the premier says more than 140 volunteer firefighters within Nova Scotia have signed up to join the frontlines and the province is working on the process of “mobilizing” this group to join the firefighting efforts in the coming days.
More international help is also on the way, with 60 firefighters from Costa Rica and 35 firefighters from New England set to arrive shortly, Houston said.
The premier said he’s also pleased to see the federal government is “starting to move” on providing support to the province.
The premier shared Wednesday an extensive list of requests for support to the federal government, that include military firefighting crew, a variety of equipment, helicopters to drop water, and 50 per cent cost-sharing for modular housing units for those who have lost their homes to the fire.
“We’ve lost a lot of homes, and we’re already in a housing crisis,” Houston said. “We know the issue is significant, we’ll work with our municipal partners and get through this.”
For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
BREAKING McGill University seeks emergency injunction to remove pro-Palestinian encampment from campus
McGill University has filed a request for an injunction to have the pro-Palestinian encampment removed from its campus.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
U.S. says Israel's use of U.S. arms likely violated international law, but evidence is incomplete
The Biden administration said Friday that Israel's use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
Rare severe solar storm Friday could bring spectacular aurora light show across Canada
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
More than half the Canadians once detained in Syrian camps for suspected ISIS family members have returned home
A total of 29 Canadians have been freed from detention camps in northeast Syria and brought back to Canada since human rights advocates began lobbying for their release years ago.
Canada abstains from Palestinian UN membership vote but supports two-state solution
Canada was one of 25 countries that abstained from a United Nations vote on Palestinian membership that passed with overwhelming support on Friday.