Annapolis County wildfire expected to be a long fight, officials say

CITYnews halifax / By Natasha O’Neill

The “challenging” wildfire burning through thousands of hectares of forest in Annapolis County is expected to be a long battle, officials with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said at an update on Tuesday.

“It’s still burning very intensely and deep in the ground,” Scott Tingley, manager of forest protection with DNR, said in a press conference. “Maybe not described as extreme in that sense, but it’s still very challenging to suppress and fully extinguish.”

The rain on Monday helped firefighters gain control of other wildfires in the province, but it did little to help extinguish the 8,026-hectare Long Lake blaze. It did, however, provide a little relief for crews who were tirelessly battling the high heat and large flames the day before.

Over the last few days, officials said some homes have been lost and others damaged by the wildfire in West Dalhousie. They have not been able to confirm the number of structures impacted by the fire because it requires teams to be on the ground. The blaze is still too large and hot to have people safely confirm the damage, officials explained.

Jim Rudderham, director of fleet and forest protection with DNR, said they are expecting a crew of 20 firefighters and a management team from Ontario to relieve the Nova Scotia crews on Wednesday.

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“We are very well aware that this is going to be a long incident. So we are trying to balance our resources,” he said at the press conference.

There are no new reports of damage to homes on Tuesday. The fire has advanced along both sides of Paradise Lake. The province said it will share the number of structures damaged or lost by the blaze when the homeowners are made aware first.

There are six helicopters and planes, plus bird dogs dousing the flames. On the ground, there are 56 DNR firefighters, 62 from Ontario and 47 from the local community, plus heavy equipment operators to create fire breaks, on Tuesday.

Tingley said crews will be taking advantage of the weather to hopefully gain more control of the blaze.

“(The rain) has bought us some time to make ground at least for a couple of days here,” he said.

The forecast for the West Dalhousie area from Environment Canada shows a 30 per cent chance of showers for both Tuesday and Wednesday. Then a long stretch of heat and sun, before a possibility of more rain next week.

The latest evacuation order from DNR and where the fire perimeter is: