Dry conditions taking a toll across New Brunswick, sparking new forestry restrictions
The Department of Natural Resources said in a news release Friday that some forestry operations would be banned for the next several days given the high risk of another wildfire.
"I encourage everyone to take extreme precautions over the coming days and stay out of the forests if at all possible," said Natural Resources Minister John Herron in the release.
From midnight on Aug. 8 to midnight on Aug. 12, harvesting, forwarding, skidding, scarification, chipping and all pre-commercial thinning and cleaning are all banned. That restriction applies to all forestry on both Crown and private lands.
Trucking, road construction and maintenance, vegetation management and tree planting are allowed to continue.
"The conditions and fire risk will continue to be monitored, and restrictions may need to be extended or additional restrictions put in place in some areas of the province," the release said.
As of Friday, the entire province is under a burn ban, including in provincial parks.
Except for the possibility of a shower Saturday afternoon in northern New Brunswick, the province could see at least six more days of dry, hot weather, according to Environment Canada forecasts.
Daniel Boudreau, owner of Big Potato Silver Valley Farms in Maugerville, said the season has shifted from a rain-heavy spring to extremely dry conditions now.
"It was just sink, sink everywhere you went. Now it's the complete opposite. Everything's just dust," Boudreau told CBC.
He said the farm waited as long as they could but had to start using emergency irrigation to save their crops, which costs hundreds of dollars a day for staffing and equipment.
"Usually we'll just kind of hit the more dire stuff and leave everything else," he said.
"This year we did our cucumbers the other night, we're doing our cabbage and broccoli and cauliflower ... last night. And then I think we're going to start putting water on the squash and pumpkins."
Lynn Cheeseman, president of New Brunswick Campground Owners Association, said her group is in complete support of the burn ban.
"I mean, our campgrounds are surrounded by forests. You know, we have to respect that," she said, adding that some guests might be disappointed.
"Especially overnight campers, it's a big thing for them. It's part of their plan when they come in is, you know, we'll get around the campfire, sing along and all that sort of stuff. But overall, I would say 99 per cent are understanding of what we need to do to protect our forests."
On top of the burn ban, water restrictions are also in place for some communities, including Carquet, Tracadie, Dieppe and Woodstock.
Woodstock Mayor Trina Jones said the situation for her town is tricky because they were already operating on one well with no backup system in place.
"We know with dry conditions, we typically see spikes in water usage. We love our green lawns and people like to keep their cars clean and we like to do lots of fun outdoor activities that involve water," Jones said.
"So we were anticipating the spike in water usage that right now I would say our system just simply cannot handle."
The current level of Woodstock's ban restricts outdoor water use and non-essential water use for cleaning or filling pools. The municipality is currently developing a new well, but needs water use to remain low for a pump test of the new well next week.
Jones said the municipality has been clear with residents about the challenges their water system faces, but acknowledged that some people may not always have it top of mind.
"I'm sure any other municipality wouldn't want to be in this situation either," she said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'Explosive' wildfire growth near Port Alberni, B.C., unusual for Vancouver Island: wildfire service
Rain is expected to fall on an out-of-control wildfire on Vancouver Island on Friday, but wildfire crews are focusing their efforts on the edge closest to the community of Port Alberni, B.C., as winds push the fire in that direction. The Mount Underwood fire jumped to 21.56 square kilometres (2,156 hectares) Wednesday morning, and is burning more than 10 kilometres south of Port Alberni, a small city home to about 19,000 people. The fire, which is roughly the same size as the City of Victoria, has prompted the city, Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD) and Tseshaht First Nation to declare states of local emergency. More than 500 properties in the Bamfield and Anacla areas are still without power due to the blaze, according to B.C. Hydro's outage list. Those properties haven't had power since around 6 p.m. PT on Monday. The ACRD has said the power is expected to be out for longer than 72 hours. Evacuation orders have been issued by the ACRD and Cowichan Valley Regional District for around 55 properties in total, a mix of residential, commercial, industrial and recreational properties. WATCH | Vancouver Island wildfire grows rapidly: The fire rapidly expanded Tuesday, ballooning from about 6.3 square kilometres Monday night to almost 14.5 square kilometres Tuesday night, before growing again Wednesday. ACRD chair and Huu-ay-aht First Nations Chief Coun. John Jack said the quick growth of the fire is concerning. "This is a fire that hasn't really been seen on Vancouver Island," he told CBC's On the Island Wednesday morning. Three evacuation alerts are also in effect, issued by the ACRD, the City of Port Alberni for the Cameron Heights neighbourhood, and the Tseshaht First Nation. The alerts, which require residents to be ready to leave at a moment's notice, cover almost 200 affected properties. Jack stressed that those under evacuation alert should have a plan for where to stay, where to keep pets and what to do for medications, especially if they need refrigeration. In a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, fire information office Karley Desrosiers said that forecasters were predicting rain on Friday, but it likely wouldn't immediately extinguish the blaze. "As we've experienced over much of the summer, the forecast often over-predicts the amount of rain that we receive," she told reporters. "Due to the drought conditions that we're experiencing ... on Vancouver Island, it would take a significant amount of rain over a longer period to really penetrate and extinguish the fire that is going to be burning deep in the ground." Desrosiers said firefighters didn't see rapid growth overnight into Wednesday, as they had on Monday when the fire was first started. It is suspected to have been sparked by human activity, and she said that firefighters were focusing on the northwest flank of the blaze, closest to Port Alberni. "Today, we've seen a shift in the wind. So the wind is pushing from the south towards the north, which is why crews are focused heavily on that northern flank," she said.'Unprecedented' dry conditions Julia Caranci, another fire information officer with the B.C. Wildfire Service, said Tuesday this "extreme" fire behaviour is unusual for Vancouver Island. "We are in the midst of a severe drought," she said at a news conference on Tuesday. She noted strong winds had pushed the fire "aggressively" uphill. "In the seven years I've worked for the Coastal Fire Centre, I don't think I've seen a fire like this on Vancouver Island," Caranci said. She said the "unprecedented" dry conditions, combined with the strong winds, hot weather and steep, rugged terrain, came together to contribute to the fire's growth. "When the temperature is rising and the relative humidity falls, and we have strong winds pushing on a new incident, we can see that explosive type of growth," Caranci said. "Again, we don't normally see that on fires on Vancouver Island." The province has issued an air quality warning due to the wildfire smoke. It recommended residents near Port Alberni and areas to the southeast, such as Lake Cowichan, limit their time outdoors, as increasing smoke levels can increase health risks. The service said there is no threat to Bamfield or Port Alberni at this time, but has asked non-residents to stay away from Bamfield, an unincorporated community with about 300 year-round residents, to avoid putting more pressure on the community. Ken Watts, elected chief councillor of the Tsesaht First Nation, said he personally delivered evacuation alerts to some of his nation's members due to the blaze. "To see, like, the kind of fear in their eyes about their home and the sadness, worried about what it is, what could happen to their own home — it's something I'll never forget, and it's a tough thing to do," he said. "Really, again, a huge shout-out to all those who work in this field. They do this every single day." Power outage in Bamfield area B.C. Hydro says it's likely to be many days, possibly more than a week, before power is restored to Bamfield and the nearby Ditidaht First Nation. "It all depends on when we're given permission to go into the area to do the assessment," said Ted Olynyk, manager of community relations for B.C. Hydro, Vancouver Island-Sunshine Coast. Olynyk said the utility company needs to wait for clearance from BCWS and government authorities in order for it to be safe for crews to assess the damage. And once Hydro crews can assess, then the repairs need to take place. "That can be a couple days; it could be up to a week, depending on the amount of damage we're faced with." Olynyk said there have been some pictures from the air showing damage to power lines. "But we don't know if it's just five poles, five kilometres' worth of poles [or] how much damage we have to deal with." Jack, ACRD chair, said Wednesday morning that the community hall and office operate on propane, and generators operate on diesel or gasoline. He said organizations are working to get fuel to the community through the alternate route to and from the Cowichan area.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Wildfire near Port Alberni, B.C., triggers evacuations, road closure
PORT ALBERNI — The rapidly growing wildfire on Vancouver Island near Port Alberni, B.C., has reached 13.9 square kilometres in size, almost triple what was reported when the fire was first reported late Monday. The Mount Underwood wildfire is now classified as a fire-of-note and has cut off the main road access to a community 90 kilometres southwest of Port Alberni in addition to forcing an evacuation of a local campground. BC Wildfire Service fire information officer Christi Howes said Tuesday that the blaze has forced the closure of the highway between Port Alberni and Bamfield. Howes said the Bamfield is without power and operating with limited services, and people should avoid travelling there by other means of transportation. "We don't want to add any additional pressures to the community by having extra people trying to get there either by road or by trail," she said. Bamfield is a popular tourist destination for sport fishing and for those hiking the West Coast Trail. The fire triggered an evacuation order for an area that includes the China Creek Campground and Marina, which has 250 tent and RV campsites and is about 15 kilometres southwest of Port Alberni. Ladysmith, B.C., resident Chelsea Fitzel was camping with her family at China Creek Monday when they were told to leave. "We lost power at China Creek campground around 6:30 p.m. as we were getting ready for dinner," Fitzel said in a text message response. "Shortly after, the China Creek campground staff drove around on their golf carts with loud speakers saying, 'The campsite is being evacuated — leave your boats, leave your trailers, get in your vehicles and go.'" Fitzel, who was scheduled to stay at the campground until Aug. 18, said her husband was able to return to the marina at China Creek by boat from Port Alberni to retrieve their own vessel, and police told them Tuesday they could briefly return to the campground to get their trailer. Meanwhile, Emergency Management Cowichan issued an evacuation alert on Tuesday for five properties in addresses in Electoral Area F. The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District said Tuesday that an evacuation order has also been issued for about 300 properties in the sparsely populated area. Regional District Chairperson and Huu-ay-aht First Nations Chief-Councillor John Jack said in an update posted on Facebook that there is still road access to Bamfield through rural roads, but it should not be considered "a major thoroughfare for public to go as they like." Jack added that the power in Bamfield will likely be out for at least 72 hours if not longer, and people currently camping near the community can choose whether to leave but the trip will likely take longer than usual. "Take care of each other," Jack said in the message to people in the affected areas. "Check in with one another. The West Coast is resilient. I know that this is nothing new for a lot of our people, but there's empathy out there and people need to take care of one another. "How we're feeling is going to be just as important as what we're doing, and so that kind of work is important as well." Howes said crews had been working on fire protection for buildings, including at private campgrounds and at forestry mills and log-sorting facilities in the area. She said the fire is displaying behaviour up to a rank-5 intensity, which means an "extremely vigorous surface fire or active crown fire" with limited options available to fight the burning directly. The cause of the fire has not been determined. The wildfire service said in an earlier update that an attack crew and several firefighting aircraft have been mobilized to fight the fast-growing blaze, and structural protection specialists are also on site. Howes said three additional units arrived Tuesday, while an incident management team was en route and will take over command of the situation by Thursday. She said the fire is not affecting the resources available to fight another nearby fire, the Wesley Ridge blaze burning near Cameron Lake that had triggered evacuations for hundreds of homes last week. Howes said firefighters are anticipating cooler weather and some rain in the area later this week, but the situation remains dynamic and crews will be watching the weather "very closely." The Regional District of Nanaimo partially downgraded evacuation orders and alerts prompted by the Wesley Ridge fire Tuesday at 5 p.m. It lifted evacuation alerts for nearly 350 properties. Another 268 remained on alert and 35 properties remained on evacuation order. There are about 96 wildfires burning across B.C., eight of which are classified as out-of-control. The Wildfire Service said Tuesday that temperatures are well above seasonal from the coast to the Rockies in southern B.C., and while cooler air is expected to move in from the north, it will remain hot and dry in the south before a new system brings rain to the area by Friday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2025. The Canadian Press
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
'Explosive' wildfire growth near Port Alberni, B.C., unusual for Vancouver Island: wildfire service
Rain is expected to fall on an out-of-control wildfire on Vancouver Island on Friday, but wildfire crews are focusing their efforts on the edge closest to the community of Port Alberni, B.C., as winds push the fire in that direction. The Mount Underwood fire jumped to 21.56 square kilometres (2,156 hectares) Wednesday morning, and is burning more than 10 kilometres south of Port Alberni, a small city home to about 19,000 people. The fire, which is roughly the same size as the City of Victoria, has prompted the city, Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD) and Tseshaht First Nation to declare states of local emergency. More than 500 properties in the Bamfield and Anacla areas are still without power due to the blaze, according to B.C. Hydro's outage list. Those properties haven't had power since around 6 p.m. PT on Monday. The ACRD has said the power is expected to be out for longer than 72 hours. Evacuation orders have been issued by the ACRD and Cowichan Valley Regional District for around 55 properties in total, a mix of residential, commercial, industrial and recreational properties. WATCH | Vancouver Island wildfire grows rapidly: The fire rapidly expanded Tuesday, ballooning from about 6.3 square kilometres Monday night to almost 14.5 square kilometres Tuesday night, before growing again Wednesday. ACRD chair and Huu-ay-aht First Nations Chief Coun. John Jack said the quick growth of the fire is concerning. "This is a fire that hasn't really been seen on Vancouver Island," he told CBC's On the Island Wednesday morning. Three evacuation alerts are also in effect, issued by the ACRD, the City of Port Alberni for the Cameron Heights neighbourhood, and the Tseshaht First Nation. The alerts, which require residents to be ready to leave at a moment's notice, cover almost 200 affected properties. Jack stressed that those under evacuation alert should have a plan for where to stay, where to keep pets and what to do for medications, especially if they need refrigeration. In a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, fire information office Karley Desrosiers said that forecasters were predicting rain on Friday, but it likely wouldn't immediately extinguish the blaze. "As we've experienced over much of the summer, the forecast often over-predicts the amount of rain that we receive," she told reporters. "Due to the drought conditions that we're experiencing ... on Vancouver Island, it would take a significant amount of rain over a longer period to really penetrate and extinguish the fire that is going to be burning deep in the ground." Desrosiers said firefighters didn't see rapid growth overnight into Wednesday, as they had on Monday when the fire was first started. It is suspected to have been sparked by human activity, and she said that firefighters were focusing on the northwest flank of the blaze, closest to Port Alberni. "Today, we've seen a shift in the wind. So the wind is pushing from the south towards the north, which is why crews are focused heavily on that northern flank," she said.'Unprecedented' dry conditions Julia Caranci, another fire information officer with the B.C. Wildfire Service, said Tuesday this "extreme" fire behaviour is unusual for Vancouver Island. "We are in the midst of a severe drought," she said at a news conference on Tuesday. She noted strong winds had pushed the fire "aggressively" uphill. "In the seven years I've worked for the Coastal Fire Centre, I don't think I've seen a fire like this on Vancouver Island," Caranci said. She said the "unprecedented" dry conditions, combined with the strong winds, hot weather and steep, rugged terrain, came together to contribute to the fire's growth. "When the temperature is rising and the relative humidity falls, and we have strong winds pushing on a new incident, we can see that explosive type of growth," Caranci said. "Again, we don't normally see that on fires on Vancouver Island." The province has issued an air quality warning due to the wildfire smoke. It recommended residents near Port Alberni and areas to the southeast, such as Lake Cowichan, limit their time outdoors, as increasing smoke levels can increase health risks. The service said there is no threat to Bamfield or Port Alberni at this time, but has asked non-residents to stay away from Bamfield, an unincorporated community with about 300 year-round residents, to avoid putting more pressure on the community. Ken Watts, elected chief councillor of the Tsesaht First Nation, said he personally delivered evacuation alerts to some of his nation's members due to the blaze. "To see, like, the kind of fear in their eyes about their home and the sadness, worried about what it is, what could happen to their own home — it's something I'll never forget, and it's a tough thing to do," he said. "Really, again, a huge shout-out to all those who work in this field. They do this every single day." Power outage in Bamfield area B.C. Hydro says it's likely to be many days, possibly more than a week, before power is restored to Bamfield and the nearby Ditidaht First Nation. "It all depends on when we're given permission to go into the area to do the assessment," said Ted Olynyk, manager of community relations for B.C. Hydro, Vancouver Island-Sunshine Coast. Olynyk said the utility company needs to wait for clearance from BCWS and government authorities in order for it to be safe for crews to assess the damage. And once Hydro crews can assess, then the repairs need to take place. "That can be a couple days; it could be up to a week, depending on the amount of damage we're faced with." Olynyk said there have been some pictures from the air showing damage to power lines. "But we don't know if it's just five poles, five kilometres' worth of poles [or] how much damage we have to deal with." Jack, ACRD chair, said Wednesday morning that the community hall and office operate on propane, and generators operate on diesel or gasoline. He said organizations are working to get fuel to the community through the alternate route to and from the Cowichan area.
