Evacuees fear the future as Nova Scotia fires rage out of control

HALIFAX — As an unprecedented series of wildfires in Nova Scotia raged out of control Wednesday, thousands of residents forced to flee their homes spent a fourth day wondering what their neighborhoods will look like when they return home.

Firefighters were hoping for a break in the dry and windy weather, but the forecast called for no rain as of Friday night.

As of Wednesday, there were three out-of-control wildfires in Nova Scotia and some 21,000 people were forced from their homes by mandatory evacuation orders. In the Halifax area, firefighters said 200 structures, including 151 homes, had been destroyed by a fire that started Sunday in a suburb northwest of downtown.

Joe Benvie, one of the 16,000 evacuees from the Halifax area, said he was looking forward to getting home to rescue his two cats.

“It’s horrible, horrible to have to wait,” the 45-year-old mechanic said Wednesday as he sat on the curb of a parking lot near a fire command post in Upper Tantallon, NS, with a cat carrier donated to his side.

Visibly fatigued, Benvie said he was frustrated by the police’s decision to stop escorting people home to retrieve pets due to the increased danger caused by deteriorating weather conditions.

“I know it’s windy, but there are live pets in those houses,” he said as a helicopter carrying a large bucket of water flew over the nearby woods dry as tinder. “For me, my cats are like my children. They are like my family.”

Earlier in the day, the RCMP said requests like Benvie’s should be passed on to the SPCA, which is working with police and firefighters to save as many pets as possible.

Benvie, who has diabetes, said he also needed to get his small mobility scooter and medicine, but people who needed medicine and medical devices were told on Wednesday to contact their local pharmacy.

The Nova Scotia fires continue to burn out of control and no rain is expected until Friday night. #wildfires #Nova Scotia

In addition to the Halifax-area wildfire, a much larger fire in southwestern Nova Scotia forced about 5,000 people from their homes in Shelburne County, the RCMP said Wednesday. The fire covered almost 180 square kilometers, making it one of the largest wildfires ever recorded in the province. And the firefighters confirmed that it had consumed about 50 houses and cabins.

“Over the last few days, we’ve seen flames 200 to 300 feet at the head of this fire,” Dave Rockwood, a spokesman for the Department of Natural Resources, said at a news briefing Wednesday.

Also, there was a much smaller fire out of control about 30 kilometers away in East Pubnico.

But the wildfire that gets pretty much all the attention is the one at the gates of Halifax. And while city officials held talks Tuesday about allowing some residents of the 100-square-kilometre evacuation zone to return home, Halifax Deputy Fire Chief David Meldrum made it clear Wednesday that was not going to happen.

“We are not changing the evacuation zone at this time,” he told a news conference outside the command post. “I would recommend that everyone anticipate, given the weather forecast, (not) make plans for re-entry.”

Authorities fear the 8.4-square-kilometre fire, which had grown slightly Tuesday night, could flare up again due to hot, dry weather. Environment Canada forecast temperatures in Halifax to hit 32C on Thursday with no chance of rain and winds gusting to 40km/h.

“This weather is increasing in severity, it’s still going to be dry, it’s going to be even hotter, so the forecast is tough,” David Steeves, a forest resources technician with the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources, said at an afternoon briefing.

The most damaged areas are the subdivisions between Upper Tantallon and Hammonds Plains. “It’s a site of tragedy,” Meldrum said when asked about what’s left in the area.

“There is widespread destruction, and there is a level of randomness that comes with wildfires when they hit … where people live. There are properties that are unscathed near properties that are destroyed. It’s terrible to see. These are the houses of people”.

Stewart Jordan, a 63-year-old resident of the Highland Park subdivision, did his best Wednesday to put the unfolding disaster in perspective.

“They are just physical possessions,” he said in an interview, adding that he has resigned himself to not knowing the fate of his home as the fire continues to burn.

“Even if you find out for sure that your house is okay right now, that can change in the blink of an eye,” he said. “All it takes is for the wind to change direction a couple of degrees, and what was green turns black.”

Steeves said that when winds are blowing from the south, such as on Wednesday, they are considered “dry winds” that draw moisture from leaves and twigs on the ground. And when humidity levels approach the forecast temperature, it’s a worrisome phenomenon that firefighters refer to as a “crossover.”

“That’s an indicator of extreme fire behavior,” Steeves said.

Despite the continued risk, no deaths or injuries have been reported as a result of the fires.

Later that day, Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said at a briefing that the municipality had received eight complaints since Tuesday night about people defying a provincial ban on setting fires outdoors.

“Illegal open burning puts lives and property at risk,” Savage said. “You are endangering yourself, your family, your neighbors if you do that… It would be nice during a crisis if we could have a ‘no stupid’ policy.”

Savage’s frustration was matched by Premier Tim Houston, who announced the province would increase the maximum fine for violating the burn ban from $237 to $25,000.

“I just don’t know what (people) are thinking,” he said. “I don’t understand what is happening in this province right now.”

Meanwhile, the Halifax region decided to ban people from entering wooded areas in municipal parks, a move that followed the province’s decision Tuesday to ban all activity in wooded areas except camping. The restrictions apply to Crown and private land, although forestry companies can work between 8pm and 10am.

Restrictions have also been placed in Nova Scotia’s two national parks and some of its national historic sites.

The province also announced Wednesday that 17 firefighters from New Hampshire and New York state would join the firefighting effort on Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on May 31, 2023.

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