State of emergency and evacuation alert lifted in areas near Paddy's Pond

CBC

2 days ago

While crews continue to fight the Paddy's Pond wildfire, the regional state of emergency in Conception Bay South, Paradise, Southlands and Galway, has been lifted, along with the evacuation alert for those areas, said the Department of Justice and Public Safety in a public advisory Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, a new evacuation alert has been issued as the wildfire burning in Conception Bay North continues, affecting the residents of the local service district of Freshwater.
The province issued the precautionary evacuation alert for the community at Noon NT. Residents have been asked to be ready to evacuate on "very short notice."
Freshwater is located about seven kilometres north of Carbonear, and about 20 kilometres from Small Point-Broad Cove-Blackhead-Adam's Cove. The region has seen more than 100 homes destroyed by the Kingston fire.
Despite the evacuation alert being issued, there was good news on Saturday morning.
"There's been no change in the fire boundaries since yesterday," said provincial forest fire duty officer Bryan Oke. "We were able to get in this morning and do an aerial assessment."
That assessment showed the fire had shrunk slightly, down to 9,519 hectares from Friday evening's high of 9,838 hectares.
Air support had been grounded Friday, but the temperatures dropped later in the day, the winds shifted, and the rain came.
Oke said crews were assessing the Kingston fire Saturday morning, and "coming up with a plan for attack, with anticipated heavier aerial attack in the afternoon."
In a news release sent Saturday morning, the provincial forestry department said because of a low ceiling, "water bombers were delayed leaving St. John's early this morning, but will be in Kingston by mid-morning and will steadily work the fire from the air. Small and heavy-capacity helicopters will bucket throughout the day."
The Kingston fire has forced the evacuation of multiple communities, and destroyed hundreds of homes and other buildings, including Cabot Academy school in Western Bay.
"The RCMP and municipalities, where applicable, along with the support of government officials, continue to assess damages and losses. At this time, Government officials will be reaching out to those residents who have lost their dwelling as information is available," said the government news release.
Paddy's Pond
Meanwhile, Oake said crews are doing well fighting the fire near Paddy's Pond.
That fire hasn't changed in size either, and he said crews will be there working on hotspots throughout Saturday.
"The Canadian Armed Forces and wildland fire ground crews will continue fuel break construction and hot spot suppression," said the forestry department release. "Helicopters with buckets will provide air support."
On Friday, the City of St. John's lifted the evacuation order for the Paddy's Pond industrial area, and reopened Northern Pond Road and Paddy's Pond Road. That area, along with the Galway and Southlands areas of St. John's are still under evacuation alerts.
The Town of Paradise also lifted an evacuation order Friday, allowing people in the Three Island Pond area to return home. That area is also still under an evacuation alert.
Martin Lake
In central Newfoundland, Oake said, the Martin Lake fire hasn't grown either.
"Today, ground crews will work the cabin areas of Rushy Pond and Martin Lake," said the government release. "The low ceiling in the area caused a delay in air supports this morning. Once it clears, water bombers, 802 aircraft and bucketing helicopters will begin aerial suppression."
Starting Saturday, the provincial government is allowing limited access to Route 360, also known as the Bay d'Espoir highway.
From 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. NT traffic will be allowed to move in one direction at a time, along with a transportation department escort, according to a press release sent Friday evening.
"Residents are strongly advised to limit travel to essential purposes only," read the release. "Travelers should ensure they have sufficient fuel and snacks on hand, as changing conditions may necessitate an earlier full closure of the highway."
The public safety department closed the highway — the only road in and out of the Connaigre Peninsula — on Tuesday, due to the fire.
Oake said it's still burning about 200 metres from the road, and about 16 kilometres from Grand Falls-Windsor.
But as of Saturday morning, it measured about 2,160, down about 30 hectares from Friday evening.
He said crews are on site fighting the fire.
In Labrador, Oake said nothing is at risks and they have no concerns about any of the wildfires.