Some residents of Annapolis Valley, N.S., have been ordered to evacuate by Annapolis Regional Emergency Management Operations due to an “out-of-control” wildfire in West Dalhousie.
On Thursday, the agency said people living on West Dalhousie Road near Godfrey Lake have been asked to leave due to the Long Lake fire which was caused by a lightning strike on Wednesday night.
In an update just before 1 p.m., the Department of Natural Resources says that 42 homes have been evacuated as the fire is about 3 km away. The blaze has grown to be about 300 hectares in size.
The fire in the Annapolis Valley had grown rapidly overnight because the flames reached the tops of the trees, a phenomenon known as crowning.
“The whole tree is burning as the flame front is advancing,” said Scott Tingley, the Natural Resources Department’s manager of forest protection. “It poses additional challenges in terms of fire suppression.”
There is also a second “out-of-control” wildfire in the area near Hoyt Lake, estimated at one hectare in size.
The Department of Public Works issued an evacuation order for Hoyt Lake at around 10:20 a.m.
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Across the province, 130 wildfires have broken out this season amid drought-like conditions, with six of the nine current fires reported since Wednesday.
Asked if fixed-wing water bombers had been brought in to douse the flames, Tingley said there were none available.
Nova Scotia does not have its own fleet of water bombers, which means it relies on other provinces, like New Brunswick and Quebec. Nova Scotia, however, did have access to four helicopters that can sling large buckets of water.
“We are doing our best to co-ordinate regionally and nationally to see what is available, but there’s a number of provinces with very challenging situations,” Tingley told a virtual briefing.
Meanwhile, Halifax Regional Municipality says that a wildfire on the western outskirts of Halifax that had prompted evacuations of businesses is now being held. It is about 15 hectares in size.
There was a mandatory evacuation of businesses on Chain Lake Drive due to the fire near Susies Lake but that has been lifted.
On another front, an official said this fire season has been much different than the one in 2023, which saw the province suffer through an unprecedented series of wildfires that scorched 25,000 hectares of land, destroyed more than 200 homes and forced about 20,000 people to evacuate.
Jim Rudderham, director of forest protection, said the 2023 fires happened in May and June, when conditions were not that dry.
“Those fuels are incredibly dry now, all of them,” he said. “Even large tree stumps, large logs, everything is extremely dry …. Spring fires are fast-burning fires that don’t burn usually deep. But the fuels are so hot and dry now that these fires … will burn deep and all available fuels will burn.”
Rudderham said the province needs a deep drenching from rainfall.
“We would take any drop of moisture we could get, but we need protracted days of steady rain,” he said, adding that the forecast doesn’t look good. In Halifax, where the ground is particularly dry, the forecast was calling for about five millimetres of rain on Thursday night and about 10 mm on Sunday night.
Open fires are banned across Nova Scotia and violations come with a $25,000 fine. The province has also banned hiking, fishing and using vehicles in the woods, as well as any camping outside of designated camp sites. Anyone caught breaking the rules will face the same $25,000 punishment.
Twelve people have been fined since last week, Premier Tim Houston told reporters.
“It’s certainly my hope that every single one of those is fully prosecuted and collected. It’s just too serious of a situation right now,” Houston said.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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