Destructive Halifax wildfires force widespread evacuations

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A wildfire that has consumed numerous homes is still burning out of control northwest of Halifax on Monday, with thousands of residences under a mandatory evacuation order.

The evacuations cover areas of Hammonds Plains, Upper Tantallon and Pockwock, suburban communities about 25 kilometres from Halifax that are home to many commuters who work in the city.

During a news briefing on Monday afternoon, Premier Tim Houston said financial support of up to $500 would be available to households in evacuated areas. More details on eligibility and how residents can register will be available on Tuesday.

The provincial Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (DNRR) reported just after 3 p.m. on Monday that the fire was still estimated to cover 788 hectares.

More than 200 firefighters are battling the blaze, including 170 from the Halifax Regional Municipality, 32 from DNRR, and seven from the Department of National Defence.

No injuries reported
Thirty Halifax fire trucks are on scene, as well as two DNRR helicopters and one water bomber that was sent from Newfoundland and Labrador. Houston said support is also coming in from New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

The Halifax Regional Municipality said 16,400 people have been affected by evacuations.

Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Deputy Chief Dave Meldrum said in an update Monday morning no injuries have been reported, but "numerous" buildings have been affected or lost, including in the Westwood subdivision, near Hammonds Plains Road, and Yankeetown Road and northward to Pockwock Road. No one has been reported missing, he said.

On Sunday, the number of buildings consumed by fire was believed to be 10.

In a subsequent briefing Monday evening, Meldrum did not have an update on the number of homes damaged, but said crews have started an assessment. It's not clear how long the assessment will take. He had said earlier that on some streets, one home could have escaped unscathed while another close by could be destroyed.

"This fire has not been contained, it is not under control," Meldrum said. "Today it did not spread appreciably, and that is thanks to weather, the work of the firefighters on the ground and the work of the air units [from the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables]," he said.

Thirty Halifax fire trucks are on scene, as well as two DNRR helicopters and one water bomber that was sent from Newfoundland and Labrador. Houston said support is also coming in from New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

The Halifax Regional Municipality said 16,400 people have been affected by evacuations.

Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Deputy Chief Dave Meldrum said in an update Monday morning no injuries have been reported, but "numerous" buildings have been affected or lost, including in the Westwood subdivision, near Hammonds Plains Road, and Yankeetown Road and northward to Pockwock Road. No one has been reported missing, he said.

On Sunday, the number of buildings consumed by fire was believed to be 10.

In a subsequent briefing Monday evening, Meldrum did not have an update on the number of homes damaged, but said crews have started an assessment. It's not clear how long the assessment will take. He had said earlier that on some streets, one home could have escaped unscathed while another close by could be destroyed.

"This fire has not been contained, it is not under control," Meldrum said. "Today it did not spread appreciably, and that is thanks to weather, the work of the firefighters on the ground and the work of the air units [from the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables]," he said.

'Really fast, really hot fire'
Meldrum said the wind is now blowing from the north, which will push the fire back toward where it was burning on Sunday. But he said that can still pose a danger.

"That was really fast, really hot fire yesterday. There's a lot of unburned fuel still in the areas that the fire went through that can reignite and can burn," he said.

"So we have a lot of work to do today, this week, for many days."

The fire was first reported on Sunday around 3:30 p.m. in the Westwood Hills subdivision off Hammonds Plains Road. The cause of that fire is under investigation.

Scott Tingley, the DNRR's manager of forest protection, said human activity likely played a part.

"It's safe to say they have all been human caused, we haven't had reports of lightning in the area, so it's human activity that's causing them," Tingley said.

The fire was first reported on Sunday around 3:30 p.m. in the Westwood Hills subdivision off Hammonds Plains Road. The cause of that fire is under investigation.

Scott Tingley, the DNRR's manager of forest protection, said human activity likely played a part.

"It's safe to say they have all been human caused, we haven't had reports of lightning in the area, so it's human activity that's causing them," Tingley said

Provincewide burn ban
Residents are being asked to "refrain from filming and taking photos of the fire area, including flying personal drones." The use of all off-highway vehicles is banned within the limits of the Halifax Regional Municipality while the local state of emergency is in effect. There is also a provincewide burn ban in effect.

Halifax Mayor Mike Savage described the wildfire as "unprecedented" during the news briefing.

While he wouldn't say how many homes were lost, he said many residents would be dealing with "a number of losses." He also warned people not to re-enter the evacuation zone.

Halifax’s deputy fire chief says an out-of-control wildfire burning northwest of the city has not grown beyond the evacuation perimeter, where 200 homes and structures have been either damaged or destroyed since the fire started Sunday.

But Deputy Chief David Meldrum stressed at a late-day news conference Tuesday that the blaze is not out, adding it can still “wake up and gain new energy.”

No deaths or injuries have been reported as a result of the fire.

But about 16,000 people have been ordered to leave their Halifax-area homes, most of which are within a 30-minute drive of the port city’s downtown.

An evacuation order for another 2,000 people has been issued in southwestern Nova Scotia, where a 100-square-kilometre fire continues to grow northwest of Barrington, N.S.

Fire officials have voiced concern about a potential “reburn” due to the extended forecast calling for hot, windy weather today and Thursday, and no rain until Friday night at the earlies

So there must have been a long drought in Nova Scotia.

Wildfires that have already forced thousands in Canada's Nova Scotia province to evacuate were threatening communities on the outskirts of Halifax on Wednesday and causing poor air quality hundreds of miles away as smoke drifted across the U.S. border.

Dozens of firefighters and several water bombers battled two out-of-control blazes - dubbed the Tantallon Fire and the Bedford Fire - northwest of downtown Halifax, the provincial capital. More than 18,000 people have fled their homes, most of them in the heavily forested fringes of the city, but there have been no reported fatalities

Arid conditions and winds gusts of 25 kilometers an hour hampered firefighting efforts on Wednesday, making it "very dangerous for the folks in the field," David Steeves, an official with the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources, said at an afternoon news conference.

The two blazes were among the 14 wildfires burning in Nova Scotia, causing hazy skies and a general sense of anxiety across the Atlantic province, fire officials said.

The wildfires were causing poor air quality hundreds of miles to the south in parts of the U.S. East Coast and Midwest as smoke drifts across the regions.

Air quality alerts were in effect for southern Michigan and Wisconsin, northern Ohio and parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York where a high concentration of pollutants were in the forecast, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

"Sensitive groups should minimize strenuous outdoor activities," the NWS in Philadelphia said in a Facebook post along with a photograph of a hazy orange sun.

EVACUATIONS CAUSE GRIDLOCK
The 837-hectare Tantallon Fire, which is about 30 kilometres (19 miles) west of downtown Halifax, has damaged or destroyed about 200 homes and structures since it began on Sunday, officials said.

Closer to the city's center, in Bedford, families packed vehicles and raced out of the area, causing gridlock in normally quiet residential neighbourhoods after authorities issued a mandatory evacuation order due to the nearby fire and a potential ammonia leak.

"We know people are extremely, extremely distressed by what's going on. As a federal government we are there, we will be there to support," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in Ottawa. He pledged federal support for the Atlantic provinces, including Nova Scotia.

Forest fires also led to evacuations of about 400 homes in the neighboring province of New Brunswick over the weekend, officials said.

To the southwest of Halifax in Barrington Lake, another fire roared out of control on Wednesday. The fire covering more than 17,000 hectares has destroyed about 50 houses, fire officials said. The smaller Pubnico fire was ablaze about 30 km to the north of Barrington Lake.

The largest wildfires ever recorded in Canada’s Atlantic Coast province of Nova Scotia continued to grow Thursday, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of more people and prompting air quality warnings in U.S. regions as far south as Virginia and Maryland.

In all, there were four wildfires in the province burning out of control on Thursday, including the massive Barrington Lake fire in Shelburne County, which grew to more than 200 square kilometers (77 square miles) despite a constant bombardment of water and fire retardant from a fleet of water bombers and air tankers.

A much smaller fire that started Wednesday received immediate attention after it prompted evacuations south of Shelburne, which is home to 1,300 people. Within hours, the local Roseway Hospital was evacuated and residents started preparing to leave.

“It jumped up pretty quick with the high winds, low (humidity) and high temperatures,” Dave Rockwood, a spokesman for the Department of Natural Resources, said Thursday in a briefing. “We are hitting it very hard and fast.”

he fires in Shelburne County have forced more than 5,000 people from their homes and cottages, 50 of which have been consumed by flames. Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton said the Barrington Lake fire was under a “major aerial attack.”

Meanwhile, municipal officials in Halifax have begun breaking the news to residents whose homes were lost to a fast-moving wildfire after they were evacuated earlier this week from subdivisions northwest of the city.

Deputy fire Chief David Meldrum said an audit of damaged and destroyed properties had been completed, but he could not provide the latest numbers.

Fire officials said 200 structures, including 151 houses, have been claimed by the fire in suburban Halifax, which has been burning out of control since Sunday, as has the Barrington Lake fire. In all, 16,000 Halifax-area residents have been evacuated from their homes.

Earlier in the day, fire officials announced that 50% of the Halifax fire had been contained, and they confirmed it had not grown since Wednesday — but it remained out of control.

“We so far have no reported missing people or injuries,” Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said. “It is a miracle and a testament to the quick work of first responders.”

U.S. officials as far south as Maryland, Baltimore, Virginia and Pennsylvania reported being impacted by the Canadian wildfires.

The National Weather Service in Wakefield, Virginia, 164 miles (263 kilometers) south of Washington, D.C., issued an air quality alert for Friday for the Richmond, Virginia area due to smoke from wildfires across the northeast and Atlantic Canada.

St. Mary’s County Department of Emergency Services, located about 80 miles (129 km) south of Washington D.C., warned residents in a tweet on Thursday that air quality might be impacted by the fires in southeastern Canada.

In Pennsylvania, the Chester County Health Department said Thursday in a tweet that the “smoke & haze from wildfires in Canada continue to linger,” and warned the air could still be unhealthy for older adults, young children and people with respiratory problems.

Similar warnings were issued by the National Weather Service in Baltimore-Washington and the Philadelphia area, including parts of New Jersey, where officials warned sensitive groups to take precautions when going outside. A thick smoke plume was reported over Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

In southwestern Nova Scotia, the number of those displaced may not be as big, but the level of trepidation is just as high.

Amanda Sutherland, owner of The Cooper’s Inn in downtown Shelburne, said some of her staff have had to leave the area, and she has a number of evacuees from the Barrington Lake fire staying at the inn.

“People are checking in on other family members, and every morning at breakfast, there’s at least one person crying,” she said, adding that her bags are already packed in case an evacuation is ordered.

Didn’t they learn anything from trump teaching California how to manage forest fires? Something about cleaning the first floors or some crap. Can’t believe forest fires still exist after trump told California how they should have managed their forests better so they don’t burn. Why are others ignoring the orangacle of “truth social?” Totally preventable!! !

Some 10,000 residents in coastal Quebec were forced to evacuate homes on Friday as wildfires engulfed more Canadian provinces, in what is emerging as one of the worst starts to the country's forest fire season.

The mayor of Sept-Iles, a coastal Quebec city, declared a local state of emergency on Friday, as wildfire risk led to evacuation orders in the region.

Quebec's Public Security Minister Francois Bonnardel said on Friday afternoon that he had reached out to the federal government to seek the army's help.

Canadian armed forces have been deployed in western Canada since early May and troops were sent to Nova Scotia on Thursday. Help has also come from the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and more help is expected to arrive next week.

Some 30,000 people across Canada are displaced due to forest fires that are burning in nearly all of Canada's provinces.

More than 2.7 million hectares have been scorched so far this year across the country, equal to more than five million football fields, federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair has said.

That's more than 10 times the average area typically burned by this time of year over the past decade.

On Friday, Mr Blair said there were 214 fires burning across Canada, 93 out of control.

Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia — they are all experiencing interface wildfires," he said, referring to fires that have the potential to impact buildings and forest fuel or vegetation simultaneously.

Wildfires are common in Canada's western provinces, but this year the eastern province of Nova Scotia is reeling from its worst-ever wildfire season.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault has urged people to avoid spending time in forests over the next few days.

Residents from Halifax, Nova Scotia, whose homes were destroyed by wildfires, boarded buses on Friday to get a look at what little remains of where they used to live.

About 200 structures, including 151 homes, have been destroyed in the Halifax area, though those numbers could change.

Bill Moore, the region's executive director of community safety, told a news conference that about 200 people would be part of the grim tour through subdivisions north-west of the downtown, which fire officials said would be safe to enter for a short time.

n Halifax, deputy fire chief Roy Hollett said on Friday that some of the damaged and destroyed homes were still burning, and he stressed that some of the affected neighbourhoods are still part of an active fire scene.

That's why those travelling through the area as part of the bus tour were not allowed to leave the vehicles.

Meanwhile, the forecast was calling for steady rain Friday night and into Saturday.

Bob Robichaud, a senior meteorologist with Environment Canada said the heaviest rain, which will extend into next week, will fall on the western side of the province, where it is needed the most.

HOW UNUSUAL ARE WILDFIRES IN NOVA SCOTIA?
Situated on Canada's eastern seaboard, Nova Scotia's climate is heavily influenced by the North Atlantic Ocean, which brings higher humidity and more moderate temperatures than many other parts of the country. Fires are not unusual but tend to be much smaller than those in the west.

The region is covered by what is known as the 'Acadian Forest', which contains plenty of broadleaf trees like sugar maples mixed with evergreens such as conifers. Broadleaf trees are less flammable than evergreens because their branches and leaves are further from the ground, and their leaves hold more moisture.

The Acadian forest is much less prone to large wildfires than forests in western Canada.

WHAT'S CAUSING THEM?
Whitman said it is difficult to determine the impact of climate change on a single fire season, but Atlantic Canada has been much hotter than usual and scientists expect temperatures in the region to continue to rise in coming years.

For coastal regions climate change is expected to bring more rain, which should reduce the risk of wildfires, but a warmer atmosphere is more efficient at pulling moisture out of soils, a factor that increases fire risk.

Widespread spring fires across the whole of Canada are also unusual, and research shows fire seasons across North America are getting longer.

WHAT'S THE OUTLOOK FOR THE FIRES?
Weather forecasts show a period of cooler, wetter air is moving into Atlantic Canada on Friday, providing much-needed relief. The Weather Network's longer-term forecast expects Nova Scotia temperatures to be slightly warmer than normal for the rest of the summer.

Wildfires burning in Canada are continuing to create poor air quality conditions in the U.S. as the smoke makes its way south.

Hazy skies, low visibility and poor air quality will be present in most of the Northeast and the Midwest and even as far south as the Carolinas.

Air quality alerts have been issued in 17 states and in cities such as Baltimore, Boston, Minneapolis, Raleigh and St. Louis.

Smoke plumes are now extending along the East Coast with smoky skies lingering into the Ohio Valley.

Air quality is currently deemed "unhealthy" for millions of residents. With these ratings, all individuals, not just sensitive groups, should limit times outdoors.

A very dense area of smoke over upstate New York will soon sweep down across Northern New Jersey, New York City and southern New England.

Large cities with the lowest air quality include New York City, Albany and Cincinnati, a map by AirNow, a website that publishes air quality data, shows.

Another large and dense plume of smoke will be moving down across parts of the Northeast on Wednesday, delivering a one-two punch for some cities. That batch of very dense smoke will push down across the Northeast throughout the day on Wednesday, giving some relief to New England and the Midwest.

At-risk populations, such as young children, the elderly or those with lung and heart disease, should especially avoid the outdoors, according to the advisories.

The smoke originated from wildfires in Quebec, where more than 160 forest fires are currently active. Some of the fires in the region were ignited by lightning strikes, according to NASA. Unusually dry and warm weather has fueled the fires.

The bulk of the smoke impacting the Northeast Tuesday is coming down from Quebec.

Air quality alerts were issued for all of Montana and parts of Idaho, Colorado and Arizona due to wildfires in Western Canada.

There is also an elevated fire danger from northern Michigan to Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with red flag warnings in effect for some areas. If any fires spark, they could easily spread due the very dry conditions and gusty winds. Lightning from isolated thunderstorms in Pennsylvania and New Jersey could be a source of new wildfire ignition.

Smoky haze from Canadian wildfires continues to blanket the northeastern U.S., blotting out the New York City skyline and irritating people's throats.

"We can see it, we can smell it, and we felt it. It was alarming and concerning," Mayor Eric Adams said during a briefing on the city's response Wednesday morning. "It really sent shockwaves throughout the entire city and this region."

Adams described his reaction when he first encountered the smoke condition Tuesday. He said he was working indoors when the city began messaging people about the rapidly deteriorating conditions.

"It wasn't until I went outdoors and basically said 'What the hell is this?' You know? It was clear that there was something different that was happening in the city," Adams said. "Anyone who was outdoors yesterday, you clearly saw that there was something that was happening in the city that was different, and it was sort of alarming to see.

“This is an unprecedented event in our city, and New Yorkers must take precautions," he added. "At the moment, we recommend vulnerable New Yorkers stay inside, and all New Yorkers should limit outdoor activity to the greatest extent possible. This is not the day to train for a marathon or to do an outside event with your children."

Adams urged older adults and people with heart or breathing conditions to wear high quality masks outdoors if they go outdoors.

All public schools have been canceled outdoor activities, though classes will continue.

The air quality significantly diminished, rapidly deteriorated late yesterday," NYC OEM Commissioner Zachary Iscol said. "We expect this to be a multiple day event, so we expect that that advisory will remain in place the next few days."

Iscol said that fire season in Canada, which has 9% of the world's forests, has started early this year.

"The intensity as well as the number of fires is far higher than usual. Usually it peaks in July, so this is something that we can continue to see possibly over the next few months," Iscol said.

Authorities said thus far there has been no noticeable uptick in emergency room visits in New York City as a result of the poor air quality.

Tourists in other parts of the city had a hard time seeing the sites, and some residents with ailments like asthma are reporting difficulty breathing.


Doctors warn there could be short term health effects, including shortness of breath or pressure in the lungs.

"The small particulate matter, some of the trapped gases, can be irritating to the lung, they can potentially be injurious. In the short term, they can cause bronchial spasms," said Dr. Michael Niederman, a pulmonologist at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical.

Doctors say the general public should be fine, but remain alert and keep windows closed.