Wildfire closes section of Route 8 near Miramichi
The highway is closed between Route 450 and Oldfield Road. Russellville Road and McHardy Road are also closed and traffic is being diverted toward Neguac.
The RCMP are asking that people avoid the area, about 16 kilometres north of Miramichi.
The Department of Natural Resources said the fire covers about 65 hectares, an estimate reached using aerial images and satellite hotspots.
This is a larger area than the day before, when a spokesperson for the wildfire management branch said crews had been able to reduce the fire to 22 hectares.
Water bombers remain in the air and bulldozers are making good progress building a fire break around the fire, according to a statement from the department.
No homes are threatened at this time.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
13 minutes ago
- CTV News
Chance of showers today; a better weekend to follow
Edmonton Watch According to CTV Edmonton's Cory Edel's forecast, rain on Friday won't last through the weekend.
CBC
16 minutes ago
- CBC
Wildfire crews hope for reprieve as rain falls on Vancouver Island blaze
Rain has arrived on Vancouver Island, where an out of control wildfire has been burning for several days. The Mount Underwood wildfire, south of Port Alberni, B.C., covers about 34.06 square kilometres (3,406 hectares), according to the B.C. Wildfire Service's latest information Friday morning. It has forced evacuations, prompted local states of emergency and caused power outages throughout the area since it was discovered on Monday. Environment Canada is forecasting rain all day Friday and into the weekend in the area, which could aid firefighters battling the blaze. The area around Port Alberni could get up to 20 millimetres on Friday, the weather agency says. "We have a favourable forecast, which is really great news," B.C. Wildfire Service spokesperson Stefan Hood said Thursday. A special air quality statement remains in effect for eastern and inland Vancouver Island, as well as the Sunshine Coast from Saltery Bay to Powell River, as smoke from the Mount Underwood fire is expected to be visible through the next 24 hours, Environment Canada says. Smoke from a fire in Washington state is also expected to blow up as far as Harrison Lake, the agency says. However, air quality forecasts for Friday show a low risk across the province. As of Friday morning, there are 83 wildfires burning across the province. Of those, six fires are burning out of control. A total of 59 of the wildfires throughout B.C. have been caused by lightning, 16 are human-caused and in eight cases, the cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Spain, Portugal, and Greece battle wildfires as heatwave is expected to last for days
A woman with a hose tries to put out the fire during a wildfire in Santa Baia De Montes, northwestern Spain, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar) MADRID — Firefighters in Spain, Portugal and Greece continued to battle wildfires Friday on a public holiday in all three countries as persistent hot, dry conditions challenged efforts to contain the blazes. Spain was fighting 14 major fires. Temperatures were expected to climb over the weekend. 'Today will once again be a very tough day, with an extreme risk of new fires,' Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on X. The national weather agency AEMET warned of extreme fire risk in most of the country, including where the largest blazes were burning in the north and west. A heatwave which brought temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on several days this month was expected to last through Monday. Fires in the Galicia region forced the closure of several highways. The high speed rail line connecting it to Spain's capital, Madrid, remained suspended. The fires in Spain this year have burned 158,000 hectares or 610 square miles, according to the European Union's European Forest Fire Information System. That is an area roughly as big as metropolitan London. In both Spain and Portugal it was the Feast of the Assumption, a major Catholic holiday usually marked by family gatherings and religious processions. In Portugal, nearly 4,000 firefighters were battling seven major fires. Authorities extended the state of alert until Sunday, amid high temperatures expected to last through the weekend. A wildfire in Greece burned out of control for a fourth day on the island of Chios, prompting several more overnight evacuations. Two water-dropping planes and two helicopters were operating in the north of the island in the eastern Aegean Sea, where local authorities said a lull in high winds was helping firefighters early Friday. Following a series of large fires in western Greece earlier this week, the Fire Service was on alert Friday outside Athens and nearby areas in the south of the country where adverse weather conditions elevated the fire risk. The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew expressed solidarity on Friday with the victims of wildfires in southern Europe during prayers for the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, an important religious holiday for Orthodox Christians. ___ Suman Naishadham, The Associated Press AP writer Derek Gatopoulos contributed from Athens.
