A year ago, the village of Perth-Andover couldn’t get out of the way of devastating flood waters and today it narrowly escaped a wild and unpredictable forest fire.
A lone helicopter buzzed over Perth-Andover on Thursday afternoon, dumping load after load of river water on a forest fire burning on the outskirts of town.
"That fire is not contained, it's not under control yet,” says Guy Levasseur, spokesman for the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources. “It's still out of control for us because the thing is, we don't have a wet line all the way around it. We don't have a fire break around it."
Flames raced over a large area east and north of Perth-Andover on Wednesday night, prompting the evacuation of dozens of nearby homes.
More than 200 people were forced to flee.
Colleen MacIntosh spent Thursday afternoon unpacking treasured keepsakes and valuables upon her return. She says she is still worried about the threat the fire continues to pose.
“As long as there's smoke and the winds are still blowing a little bit, so yes, I still am a little apprehensive," says MacIntosh.
It has been a busy week for firefighters throughout the province. Some of the crews working in Perth-Andover came after fighting flames in Kedgwick and in the Moncton area.
Most of the fires are believed to have been manmade, causing fire officials to wonder why some people have chosen to ignore a provincewide ban on burning.
"They just don't realize what fire can do,” says firefighter Roger Jenkins. “First time, one gets away on a person…it's a scary deal when a fire starts to take off."
Fire officials hope rain in the forecast could help in the continuing effort to contain the fire.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Andy Campbell
