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
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.