Shelburne County wildfire still out-of-control, grows to 19,000 hectares
An out-of-control wildfire in Nova Scotia’s Shelburne County has grown to 19,000 hectares.
It occupied about 10,300 hectares Tuesday morning.
Dave Rockwood, with the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (DNRR), said his crew was stationed near Barrington Lake, about roughly seven kilometres north of the community of Barrington.
A thermal scan early Tuesday morning showed the fire grew slightly overnight, Rockwood said, adding weather is not helping.
“We’ve had to pull our crews from areas of concern,” said Rockwood in an interview with CTV News. “We’ve been relying heavily on our aircraft to do the work.”
Crews are working to protect structures and keep the fire away from “critical infrastructure,” Rockwood said.
About 2,000 residents have be told to evacuate their homes.
Rockwood says he wants evacuees to know, “We’re working as hard as we can to get them home.”
A mandatory evacuation order is in effect for all communities from Port Clyde along Highway 309 to the intersection of Oak Park Road and Highway 3 in Barrington West, according to the Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office.
A shift in wind direction pushed smoke towards the town of Shelburne. Air quality issues forced residents of a seniors home to be moved our and taken to Acadia University.
Steven Ryer, from Clyde River, about 20 kilometres southwest of Shelburne, says he isn’t sure if his home is still standing. He says information is hard to come by.
“Nobody knows anything,” Ryer told CTV News. “I’ve had elderly people from our community calling me looking to me for answers and I don’t know what to tell them. I’ve contacted our local MLA and they don’t really know what to tell us.”
This yellow helicopter has been contracted by the province to help with the fire. (Jonathan MacInnis/CTV Atlantic)
Premier Tim Houston said he understands the frustration but all efforts are focused on putting fires out and saving as many homes as possible.
Fifty DNRR firefighters, including an incident management team, are on site Tuesday as well as several dozen volunteer firefighters.
Two water bombers from Newfoundland and Labrador were in the air along with two helicopters from DNRR and two that were privately contracted.
Smoke from a wildfire in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, is pictured on May 29, 2023. (@NS_DNRR/Twitter)
When asked if Nova Scotia needs its own fleet of bombers, Houston said, “We have the helicopters who can drop. We have access to them, so we’ll look at doing what we can to support the firefighters in this province.”
Nova Scotia has seen 183 wildfires in 2023.
For more Nova Scotia news, visit our provincial home page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.