Several large wildfires continue to burn in central Newfoundland. (Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture/Twitter)
Three large wildfires in central Newfoundland continue to burn out of control, and the province may need help from the federal government to regain control.
Premier Andrew Furey said on Friday he had contacted the federal government for help if needed.
Federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair tweeted shortly before 3pm NT that he had spoken with provincial Public Safety Minister John Hogan about the active fires and said the federal government “is ready to support the province as it manages the situation.”
Warm weather and high winds have kept the fires burning, stranding commuters at both ends of the Bay d’Espoir Freeway as safety closures continue to disrupt the region.
Incident Commander Jason Glode told CBC News on Friday that the fires are “extremely active” and it’s not safe to have fire crews on the ground.
“[Water] The bombers have been able to do some work, but the heads of the fires are very volatile, so they’re not able to get there,” Glode said.
“They have grown significantly in size and will continue to grow significantly today, tomorrow and the day after that.”
The amount of smoke and the size of the three fires are posing problems in controlling the ground covered by the fires.
Glode said helicopters can’t navigate the smoke to get accurate updates, but he estimates the Bay d’Espoir Highway fire has grown from about 1,000 acres earlier in the week to about 1,500 to 2,000 acres Friday. A hectare is 10,000 square meters.
The Paradise Lake fire, Glode said, started as three fires but has combined into one large fire, which he said could cover up to 4,000 acres by Saturday.
The third fire burning in the region is near Southern Lake. It has grown from about 80 hectares at first to about 170 hectares on Friday, and is still spreading.
Mallory Slade and her family drove past flames and smoke as a wildfire burned along Bay d’Espoir Highway. (Submitted by Mallory Slade)
“The biggest concern right now would be the smoke. The smoke will affect most of the communities north of these fires,” Glode said.
“With the amount of smoke and material being released, our concern is also with any hot material that may fall from the sky.”
Glode said area residents should take preventative measures such as drenching property and storing fuels properly.
He said some cabins near Paradise Lake are basically on fire. There are about 200 in the area.
“We can’t go in there at this point and once the fire clears up enough to go in we’ll do a damage assessment.”
Forestry Minister Derrick Bragg said there was evidence a cabin had already burned, witnessed during an overflight on Friday. He said he had also witnessed smoke from other cabins.
“There’s going to be more than one cabin burned out of this,” Bragg said.
Resources are scattered
On Wednesday, Newfoundland and Labrador acquired the help of three planes and seven fire crews from Quebec. An observation plane has already arrived and two water bombers are expected to be in Gander by 4pm on Friday. Resources and crew members will remain for about a week to help contain the fires.
The past two weeks have been tough on provincial resources as eruptions have kept crews busy while hot weather persists.
Bragg, whose department has been leading the response to the fire since July 24, told CBC News on Friday afternoon that the province was looking to impose a fire ban on all outdoor fires in the central and eastern regions of the island.
***IMP***Public Notice: Open Fire Prohibition Proclaimed for the Insular Portion of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador: pic.twitter.com/oc3rIcGyZ8
—@FFA_GovNL
Shortly after 6 p.m., the department announced the fire ban, which prohibits fires on forest land or within 300 meters of forest land in central and eastern Newfoundland. The ban comes into effect between the hours of midnight on Saturday and midnight on August 16.
“This is precautionary because right now we have all our resources in the center. We can’t afford any flare-ups anywhere else, to be honest,” Bragg said.
“We have skeleton teams left across the province.”
As for reopening the Bay d’Espoir Expressway, Glode said that’s the goal, but safety remains a priority.
“If the crews determine that we can open it with the support of a tanker and helicopters, we will. But right now, given the fire and the weather and the behavior and those kinds of things, it’s like we have to to roll [with it],” he said.
“It’s not going to open today, it may not open tomorrow, so everybody has to be prepared that it could drag on for a long period of time.”
The Canadian Red Cross and Salvation Army are providing emergency services for those stranded on the Trans-Canada Highway due to the closure.
The Red Cross is also coordinating emergency accommodation for people living in areas affected by the closure of the Bay d’Espoir Freeway.
A congregational shelter has been set up at the Salvation Army Citadel in Grand Falls-Windsor. The shelter can be accessed anytime after 6pm on Friday.
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