The wildfire in Annapolis Valley that has forced 100 homes to be evacuated continued to rage on Wednesday morning, according to the province.
While the Long Lake wildfires are still listed as “out of control” by the province, they did not grow overnight, according to the morning update.
“There are still no reports of damage to homes. Crews are still working on dozer guards,” the report noted.
The province says that 52 firefighters are working at the scene alongside 22 from Ontario and 39 other local firefighters, and that more help is on the way.
Additional firefighters from Ontario are expected to arrive on Wednesday night, while the government is also expecting planes from Manitoba and helicopters from Saskatchewan to arrive.
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“The first extra group of firefighters is inbound scheduled today, and we’re expecting an additional group of firefighters to arrive tomorrow and that’s been coordinated through the Canadian Energy Forest Fire Centre,” Scott Tingley with the Natural Resources Department told reporters Wednesday.
“We also have a group of two CL415 air tankers that are inbound from Manitoba. We’re expecting their arrival shortly, early (Wednesday) afternoon.”
A group of helicopters have been attempting to come from Saskatchewan but their progress was slowed by the weather in Ontario and Quebec.
“We’re anticipating one of those to be arriving shortly early this afternoon and a couple more to be arrived later in the day,” Tingley said.
The Long Lake Fire, which is about 3200 hectares in size, is one of three active fires in Nova Scotia, with the other two being under control.
“So those two under control being the fire in Susie Lake and the one in Hilltown, Digby County,” Tingley said.
The Susies Lake wildfire shut down businesses in the Halifax area last week and crews have not seen any hotspots in a couple of days but the situation is far from over.
“It’s still probably a couple of days out at least before they’re ready to even start talking about declaring it fully extinguished,” Tingley said.
Staff have been closely watching the weather forecast and movement of Hurricane Erin.
“With the forecasted weather that is possibly on the way, we’re looking at this situation very seriously from every possible angle to put contingency plans in place and ensure the safety of everybody on the ground,” DNR spokesperson Dave Steeves said Wednesday.
— With files from the Canadian Press
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