Latest news with #StJohnsRegionalFireDepartment
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Police investigating 4 suspicious fires in downtown St. John's
The RNC is investigating several brush fires they believe someone purposely set in downtown St. John's Tuesday night. Emergency crews responded to four fires between 10:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. NT, all close to each other on Lemarchant Road and New Gower Street, according to a news release sent by the RNC. The release said investigators believe one person set all four fires. The St. John's Regional Fire Department responded quickly, and the RNC says no one was injured and nothing was damaged. The entire province is under a fire ban, as firefighting crews from both Newfoundland and Labrador and elsewhere in Canada struggle to deal with multiple wildfires that have forced hundreds to flee their communities. Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.
CBC
4 days ago
- CBC
Police investigating 4 suspicious fires in downtown St. John's
The RNC is investigating several brush fires they believe someone purposely set in downtown St. John's Tuesday night. Emergency crews responded to four fires between 10:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. NT, all close to each other on Lemarchant Road and New Gower Street, according to a news release sent by the RNC. The release said investigators believe one person set all four fires. The St. John's Regional Fire Department responded quickly, and the RNC says no one was injured and nothing was damaged. The entire province is under a fire ban, as firefighting crews from both Newfoundland and Labrador and elsewhere in Canada struggle to deal with multiple wildfires that have forced hundreds to flee their communities.
CBC
6 days ago
- Climate
- CBC
'Troublesome day' ahead for fighting Paddy's Pond fire, says fire duty officer
Latest updates: Crews will continue to battle an out of control wildfire that broke out on the outskirts of St. John's but the provincial fire duty officer warns it won't be an easy job given prevailing dry conditions. On Monday the out-of-control Paddy's Pond wildfire quickly grew to 200 hectares in a few hours, prompting the province to put portions of Paradise and Conception Bay South on an evacuation alert. Provincial fire duty officer Mark Lawlor said they plan to get aerial assets into the sky quickly on Tuesday to fight the fire and if it is safe to do so, get crews on the ground, adding the St. John's Regional Fire Department is also working with them. "We're doing everything we can to limit the movement of this fire, hopefully contain it," he told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show. Lawlor said the Paddy's Pond fire is still approximately 200 hectares. "Overnight there was no growth in the fire, thankfully. However, this morning there's still active fire on it already," he said. Trees are already burning and there is a lot of smoke in the area, he added. Given the current forecast, which is dry with no rain expected, Lawlor said they are anticipating "extreme fire behaviour" on Tuesday. "It's going to be a troublesome day," said Lawlor. He also advised people if they're under an alert, to be ready to leave if necessary. Lawlor also asked people to stay away from the fire because they need access to stay clear and they don't want people to get in the way. According to the provincial wildfire dashboard, there are eight fires currently burning across the province, with five burning out of control. Thousands of people have been forced to flee their communities and many others are waiting to see if they will need to leave quickly due to the wildfires. Lawlor said the Kingston fire is still out of control and it has expanded north and is now in Ochre Pit Cove. He said work on the fire guard on its southern end will continue on Tuesday and they are planning a second fire guard on its northern end. He said the Holyrood fire is considered under control and while there were a couple of hot spots on Monday, crews "jumped" on it. The Martin Lake fire is also still out of control and there was some growth on its northeast corner and southwest corner on Monday "We had extremely high winds, high temperatures and low relative humidities which led to some growth," said Lawlor. But he said there is good news, as the water bombers and helicopters worked well and were able to minimize the growth. However, the bulldozer and excavator working on the fire guard had to be pulled from the site because of safety concerns. Lawlor said crews will be back on Tuesday and they are trying to keep the Bay d'Espoir Highway open. There are also two wildfires burning in Labrador, the Udjuktok Bay fire and Travespine fire. Lawlor said the Udjuktok Bay fire is being monitored because it's not close to any major assets. He said there was progress on the Traverspine fire, located 19 kilometres south of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, on Monday. Environment Canada has issued two weather alerts for the province, an air quality statement is in effect for the northern Avalon Peninsula and St. John's area, as well as a heat warning for most of the province. As of Tuesday morning, the provincial fire hazard map lists most of the island of Newfoundland at an extreme risk of fire. Parts of Labrador range from a moderate risk to extreme. A province-wide fire ban is in effect until September. CBC meteorologist Ashley Brauweiler said the forecast for the next few days is more hot, dry weather with relatively low humidity, which she said can lead to extreme fire behaviour. "That's been the recipe that we've been seeing, really, for what, two weeks now? There's really no relief in the forecast," Brauweiler said. She added the rainfall previously forecasted for Thursday is not looking likely. "Obviously every little bit helps, but at this point it looks like the better chance of showers may be as we get into Friday." Brauweiler said because of the winds, people can expect varying levels of smoke across the St. John's area. 'Anxious times' C.B.S. resident David Coates said he and his wife are ready to leave if the order is given but he's hopeful the fire won't reach structures in Paradise or his community. "It's anxious times for sure," he told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show. If they need to leave, Coates said they will go to a sister's home in St. John's. Coates is an artist and said most of his artwork will stay in his home because he doesn't have the capability to move the paintings on short notice. While Coates would hate to lose his paintings, he's keeping it in perspective. "We've got other memories and items that we certainly can't take with us that we'd hate to lose. But at the end of the day, I can rebuild and I can paint again." Safety is priority: Canada Summer Games In response to the nearby wildfires, the ongoing Canada Summer Games is moving some sporting events scheduled for Tuesday out of Paradise and C.B.S. to St. John's. Beach volleyball and sailing are postponed. 2025 Canada Games Host Society CEO Karen Sherriffs said they are monitoring the situation and working with various authorities, like the municipalities and the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre.
CBC
31-07-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Firefighters kept busy with eruption of calls after severe lightning on the Avalon, says platoon chief
Part of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula was hit with an intense thunderstorm on Wednesday, which seemed to keep firefighters in the region busy overnight with a high volume of calls,says the platoon chief for the St. John's Regional Fire Department. Mike Hall said on average, the department typically gets about a dozen calls from midnight to 8 a.m. "But last night, in a period of four hours, we had over 50 calls come in with multiple structure fires throughout the city," he told CBC News. He said the busy period started around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday and ended around 4 a.m., and included calls to residential fires, a pole fire, shed fire, lightning strikes on a house and medical calls. "The place just erupted with activity," said Hall. As soon as a truck was done at one site, he said they would be sent to another, before being sent to another call. Many of the calls came in around the time when a thunder and lightning storm was hitting the region, but Hall couldn't definitively say if the high level of activity was connected, as the investigations haven't been completed. "But certainly very coincidental that at the very time all these lightning strikes were happening within the city that, you know, we happen [to have] all these structure fires. So I would certainly think there's a correlation." He said whenever there are lightning strike, there is a worry it could develop into something more serious. "Luckily last night, after the lightning strikes, well, then the rain came," said Hall. One call was for a fire at a home on Pilot's Hill in downtown St. John's, which Hall said two fire stations worked on. Residents have been displaced and the adjoining homes have smoke damage. Another call was for a pole fire on Baird Place, where there was a live wire in the rear of a home, he said. A detached shed also caught at a Paradise home, he said. "All significant calls," said Hall. However, he said with the hard work of the firefighters, their call centre and Newfoundland Power, it was all contained. To handle the influx of calls Hall said they had to bring in additional people in to work the call centre. As far as he knows there were no reported injuries connected to the fires. 'Crazy pictures' Meteorologist Melissa Field said Wednesday evening's storm developed east of the Burin Peninsula and tracked across parts of the Avalon Peninsula and into the St. John's metro area. Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the St. John's metro area. "We don't typically issue severe thunderstorm warnings for just thunder and lightning. It's more of the impact, the actual weather that goes along with them," she told CBC. Field said the storm pulled offshore around midnight. "So we were seeing on social media all kinds of crazy pictures, videos of all the lightning. So it did look like it put on quite the show," said Field. CBC News has asked Newfoundland Power for an update, and according to its website as of Thursday morning there are five unplanned power outages in the area spanning St. John's to the southern shore, three of which are caused by lightning.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
St. John's east end fire being battled by firefighters
More than a dozen firefighters are in the east end of St. John's, fighting a fire that broke out in a home on Monday morning. The fire was at a townhouse, located at 27 and 29 Janeway Place, which is near Quidi Vidi Lake. Thick plumes of smoke were coming from the townhouse and firefighters were attacking the townhouse's roof with a spray hose. According to a statement the St. John's Regional Fire Department received a report about a fire at 4:49 a.m. Firefighters are on the scene, as well as fire trucks, police officers and emergency responders. There is a 'sold' sign on the lawn and residents in the area told CBC News the home was unoccupied at the time. CBC News asked for an interview with the platoon chief but was told no one was available due to the fire. MORE TO COME
