Rainfall helps crews battle Newfoundland wildfires, but evacuation orders remain in effect

CBC

18 hours ago

Crews are still fighting two wildfires burning in Newfoundland, but recent rainfall continues to help efforts to extinguish them, according to the province's fire duty officer.
The active wildfires are the Chance Harbour fire in eastern Newfoundland and the Ragged Harbour fire burning northeast of Gander. That blaze forced nearby Musgrave Harbour residents to evacuate over the weekend.
A third wildfire is also burning in Labrador.
Mark Lawlor said the Chance Harbour fire, located on the Bonavista Peninsula, has burned deep into the ground, which is making fighting it a challenge.
"The firefighters have to get in and dig those out and put water on them to put them out. So that creates more work," he told CBC Friday morning.
Lawlor said they also haven't gotten the needed substantial rainfall to soak the ground thoroughly. Recent rainfall of 30 millimetres has helped crews get on the ground, but hasn't put out all the hotspots.
Lawlor says it's still unclear how much damage the fire has caused to the area so far.
The wildfire hasn't grown in several days, however, with its perimeter remaining stable. According to the provincial wildfire dashboard, the fire is 1,820 hectares in size.
He said crews are still in the area working on the fire.
"We had firefighters working the southern boundary of that fire on the edge towards Winter Brook and Jamestown, and they made good progress. And we had crews on the eastern side of that fire putting out hot spots," he said.
Lawlor said the Ragged Harbour fire, which is burning near Musgrave Harbour, is still out of control, adding on there was a lot of smoke and some open flames on Thursday.
"Nothing serious, nothing to cause great alarm, but there was fire there," he said.
It has also stayed at 1,660 hectares and it hasn't gotten closer to the community.
He said crews are fighting the fire's northern side, which is the area closest to Musgrave Harbour, to get at hotspots there.
No timeline for return
Lawlor couldn't yet offer a timeline for when people might be able to return to their residences in Chance Harbour or Musgrave Harbour to check for damage to their properties.
"We have to ensure that it's safe for people to go back," said Lawlor, "We need to have the comfort level that … the danger level is eliminated."
He added the weekend's forecast is looking good for firefighting efforts.
"If the forecast holds, we shouldn't see much fire activity on either of those fires."
He said the Winokapu fire in Labrador, which is about 80 kilometres away from Churchill Falls, is also burning out of control.
"We haven't seen much activity with that fire lately, and our staff are going to check on that one today," Lawlor said.