Wildfire in Nova Scotia’s Shelburne County is 60% contained

Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Recourses and Renewables (DNRR) says a wildfire in Shelburne County is 60 per cent contained.

The province says the wildfire is being held at 56.5 hectares.

As of 4:40 p.m., 30 DNRR staff, 17 firefighters and one helicopter were on site.

Ray Rogers and his wife were out walking their dogs Sunday when the fire started.

“You’re standing in your own yard, looking around at the familiar objects that surround you and you’re going this could all be gone and it’s just about impossible to take in,” said Rogers in an interview with CTV News.

“You touch things and look around and you see great orange tongue licking the sky coming towards you.”

Residents were given a brief window Tuesday morning to go home and collect some things. Rogers is happy his is still standing.

The DNRR helicopter crews took advantage of an abundant water supply from the harbour and a nearby lake to save homes threatened by the flames.

“Crews were challenged a little bit yesterday with the weather conditions,” said Scott Tingley, with DNRR.

“It was very, very dry and very windy and there were a few flare-ups. Not hearing reports of those same challenges today but it’s still very dry and windy in the area.”

This year there have been almost 150 wildfires in Nova Scotia, which have burned about 427 hectares of land.

A Department of Natural Recourses and Renewables helicopter responds to a wildfire in Little Harbour, N.S., on May 15, 2023. (Jonathan MacInnis/CTV Atlantic)

POWER

Power was restored to customers who were without power in the Little Harbour area due to the fire, as of 7:45 p.m., according to Nova Scotia Power’s outage map.

Nova Scotia Power crews work to restore electricity to residents near the Little Harbour, N.S., wildfire on May 16, 2023. (Jonathan MacInnis/CTV Atlantic)

FIRE BEGAN SUNDAY

The fire first broke out Sunday afternoon, with DNRR staff, helicopters, and volunteer firefighters from Lockeport, Little Harbour, Shelburne and Sable River responding.

Seventeen people had to be evacuated from several seasonal homes and cottages in the area as a precaution.

On Monday, fire crews dealt with windy, dry conditions, which caused flareups.

The province says firefighters deployed sprinkler kits Monday to protect structures in the area.

There is still no word on what caused the wildfire.

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