Conception Bay North communities on evacuation alert

CBC

3 days ago

Residents in several communities on Newfoundland's Conception Bay North are being told to prepare to evacuate as a wildfire is burning in the area.
Around midnight, the provincial government issued an evacuation alert, asking the communities from Kingston to Adam's Cove and Broad Cove to be ready to evacuate if the call was made.
"All residents are advised to make preparations for possible evacuation in case the fire spreads towards the town and evacuation is required on short notice," said the department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture in a social media post.
According to the post, on Sunday evening two water bombers, a helicopter and crews responded to the fire burning near Kingston and estimated the fire was approximately 25 hectares in size.
"Suppression efforts will resume in the morning," said the post.
On the Facebook page for the town of Small Point-Adam's Cove-Blackhead-Broad Cove, residents were also urged to be ready to flee and keep the roads clear so emergency crews in the area could travel efficiently.
According to the provincial wildfire map, the fire burning out of control in the area broke out on Sunday.
The province also lists the area on its fire hazard map as having an extreme risk of fire.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is also asking drivers to only travel along route 70 near Kingston if necessary, in order to allow emergency responders to do their work.
Meteorologist Robert Grove told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show there are "gusty" southwest winds and conditions will be dry along the coast — "and that's not ideal" for firefighting.
"But the winds should taper off and switch directions tonight, so hopefully that will be a little bit of help," said Grove.
on edge in recent months.
The last wildfire in the area happened in May, and ravaged the community of Adam's Cove, forcing residents to evacuate and destroying 12 homes and 45 other structures.