On Friday, firefighters in Nova Scotia continued to battle a wildfire in the Annapolis Valley that has forced around 50 homes to be evacuated.
The fire, which is in the Long Lake area, is one of 11 across the province, including several in the area.
It was started by a lightning strike on Wednesday night and has grown to 406 hectares, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
Long Lake Wildfire spokesperson Dave Steeves told reporters that there has been some extreme fire behaviour connected to the wildfire over the past day-and-a-half.
“Our flame lengths were quite high, which is an indicator to basically how dangerous the situation is that our crews were dealing with on the ground,” he said.
“Things have dropped back a little bit, but there is still the potential for things to get dangerous very, very quickly.”
On Friday afternoon, officials also reported a helicopter had crashed while fighting the fire, though the pilot was conscious and able to talk when they were rescued.
The fire in the Annapolis Valley grew rapidly because the flames reached the tops of the trees, a phenomenon known as crowning.
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“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.”
The DNR says two other fires in the area — Hoyt Lake, which is around one hectare, and Durland Lake Brook, which is estimated to be half a hectare — are now being held.
The Department of Public Works issued an evacuation order for Hoyt Lake on Thursday morning.
A fire in the Halifax area continues to burn, however, the businesses that were forced to close did reopen on Thursday morning.
The DNR says the Susies Lake wildfire is being held as crews will continue to work on getting it under control on Friday. It is about 15 hectares in size.
“The Susie Lakes wildfire is still the same size, still being held, still being in the process of being put under control and put out,” explained Jim Rutterham, director of forest protection.
“So that’s good news with that. That fire is winding down, which is good. It’s not there yet, but it’s getting there.”
While the province does have some water-bombing helicopters to deal with the fires, it does not have fixed-wing water bombers.
With other provinces in the region also dealing with a large amount of forest fires, it has been tough for Nova Scotia to receive that kind of help.
“These assets are stretched thin and we tried again to get some last night and we were able to get them but the weather kept them from coming,” Rutterham said.
He noted that the province is hopeful they may get some help on Friday.
Nova Scotia had lent 20 firefighters to New Brunswick but Rutterham said they are on their way home to help this weekend.
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 campsites. 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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