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CBC
3 days ago
- Climate
- CBC
Current N.L. wildfires reminiscent of the devastating summer of 1961
"There's a type of flower that closes up at night when it gets dark, and those flowers were closing up in the middle of the day, at noon-hour. The smoke was just so thick." That's how Marvin Barnes, who was six years old and living in Valleyfield at the time, remembers the summer of 1961 in Bonavista Bay. That year, record dry conditions on the island of Newfoundland led to a spate of wildfires that burned for more than three months. Then, as now, crews had to contend with blazes in several different locations at once. Then, as now, thousands of people were evacuated from their communities and could only wait for news on the fate of their homes. The province took steps that will sound familiar to those of us living through this year's ferocious wildfire season. Authorities banned open fires, prohibited travel through the woods, and ultimately declared a state of emergency and asked the Canadian government to send military support. When the flames finally guttered out, they left behind millions of acres of scorched earth and a province determined to change its approach to forest fires in the future. Fighting for the life of the town The summer of 1961 was an unusually dry one. Less than an inch (25.4 milimetres) of rain had fallen on Newfoundland's east coast from late May to early August, compared to an annual average of almost 200 millimetres The dry spell made a tinderbox of Newfoundland's forests and fields, and by mid-June there were a dozen major wildfires burning out of control. One of the most destructive of them was in Bonavista North. First spotted on June 12 near Traverse Brook, it spread rapidly up the coast to Hare Bay, where hundreds of women and children were forced to spend the night in schooners offshore. That was only the beginning. The conflagration would burn for three months and, at its peak, extend over 200,000 hectares. When then-minister of Mines and Resources W. J. Keough flew over the area in early August, he said the smoke from the blaze furled tens of thousands of feet into the air "like the burst from an atomic bomb." Dr. Rex Gibbons, a geologist who would eventually become minister of Mines and Energy himself under the Wells government, was fifteen years old in 1961 and had just graduated from grade eleven when he and his family learned the fire was moving up the shore toward them. "We'd heard of houses burning in Hare Bay and other places along the way," he said in an interview, "and we knew the fire was heading towards Lumsden, towards all the towns here on the coast." While his mother and six younger siblings evacuated to Lumsden North, which was out on a sandy peninsula and safe from the flames, Gibbons and his father stayed behind with the men of the community to help build a fire break. "Every capable person in Lumsden was on the fire line," he remembers. "We were fighting for the life of the town and our own livelihoods." Beating down the burning grass with shovels and spraying hotspots with water from the cans strapped to their backs, they managed to stop the flames from reaching the town. Gibbons and some of his friends later went west along the shore to Carmanville to help fight the fire there. Wildfires lead to improvements in N.L.'s forestry service To prevent further outbreaks, the government banned open fires except at designated sites in public parks and restricted outdoor smoking. They prohibited travel through the woods on the Avalon and Burin peninsulas, including for the purposes of camping, fishing, and berry picking. Officials also introduced mandatory jail sentences for anyone found to have started a fire in the forests, whether intentionally or through negligence. Two young men were sentenced to serve six months in the penitentiary for deliberately setting a fire in a forest in central Newfoundland. Eventually, the provincial government declared a state of emergency, and Ottawa dispatched over 1,200 Canadian troops to help get the blazes under control. By the end of summer, the fires had obliterated dozens of homes and, according to estimates at the time, more than half a million hectares of wilderness. They wiped out Bonavista North's thriving logging industry, which many residents relied on for their winter livelihoods, and, in the words of then-deputy Resources minister Stuart Peters, destroyed "a combination of soils, plants and animals that took from fifteen to twenty thousand years to establish." All that remained across great swaths of the province were ghostly white spruce trunks and ashes on bedrock. But for all its tragedy, the summer of 1961 led to permanent improvements in the way Newfoundland and Labrador deals with wildfires. The scope of the disaster revealed that the province's forestry service lacked the resources to fight such large fires, so the province purchased six aircraft: two Canso water bombers, one large helicopter for transporting firefighters and gear, and three small fixed-wing planes. The government also established a network of 12 weather stations to monitor for hazardous conditions across the province. The fires left an indelible mark not only on landscapes and institutions, but on the people of the province. For Gibbons, the experience is something that those who lived through it will never forget. "We all remember '61."
National Post
03-07-2025
- National Post
Mother accused of abandoning Quebec toddler faces new charge
The mother of a LaSalle toddler who was found in Ontario after a three-day search spanning two provinces is facing a new charge of criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Article content The 34-year-old woman, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, appeared in the Valleyfield courthouse Thursday morning. Article content Article content She was already facing a charge of child abandonment. Article content The mother wore a white blouse, with her long dark hair tucked into a braid. She cried visibly during the proceedings and a box of tissues was handed to her at one point as she wiped away tears. Article content The child was found alive and well on the edge of a highway near Casselman, Ont., nearly 150 km from Montreal, on June 18, three days after her mother reported her missing at a fireworks store in Coteau-du-Lac.
CBC
17-06-2025
- CBC
Missing Quebec toddler's mother arrested and charged with child abandonment
Claire Bell's mother will appear in court for a 2nd time on Tuesday The mother of Claire Bell, the three-year-old girl who was reported missing on Sunday, has been arrested and charged with child abandonment on Monday night in Valleyfield, Que. She will appear in court again on Tuesday. The search for the missing toddler was still underway on Tuesday morning, according to Sûreté du Québec (SQ) spokesperson Jean-Raphaël Drolet, with a focus on Coteau-du-Lac, Highway 20 and Highway 30. Drolet indicated that police might consider other search areas depending on the information they obtain. The toddler was last seen Sunday morning at her home in LaSalle. Bell was reported missing a few hours later in Coteau-du-Lac, about 50 kilometres west of Montreal, where the SQ has been focusing its search. On Monday, around 5:30 p.m., the SQ announced police were also searching around Highway 30 in the Vaudreuil-Dorion area where a brown chihuahua was found dead — a dog matching the description of the one thought to be with the girl when she was last seen. Police are still working to confirm if it's the same dog. The toddler was reported missing by her mother around 3 p.m. ET Sunday after the woman walked into a business on Chemin St-Emmanuel, says the SQ. The mother is being met by investigators. An employee of the store who was working Sunday said the woman drove her car into the parking lot and ran into the store in a panic. CBC News is not identifying the employee because she is not authorized to speak on behalf of the store. The employee said the woman said she'd lost her child and couldn't remember what happened. Another employee then called 911. According to police, Claire was last seen at her residence near Newman Avenue in Montreal's LaSalle borough Sunday morning, around 9:45 a.m. ET. Claire is three feet tall, weighs 35 pounds and has brown eyes and brown hair. She was last seen wearing grey pants and a long-sleeved shirt with pink around the collar, said SQ spokesperson Laurie Avoine. She's likely barefoot, Avoine added. The SQ is asking the public to reach out if they spotted the vehicle with the licence plate K50 FVE between 9:45 a.m. ET and 3 p.m. ET Sunday. The vehicle also has a yellow "Baby on board" sticker on the top right corner of the rear windshield.
CTV News
04-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
Man charged after crashing vehicle into ditch: P.E.I. RCMP
The Prince Edward Island RCMP has arrested a man who allegedly fled from them and crashed into a ditch on Tuesday. Police responded to multiple reports of an intoxicated man who was driving recklessly in Montague, Valleyfield and Kilmuir around 2:11 p.m. Officers found the vehicle, but the driver took flight, according to an RCMP news release. Police say the vehicle spun out of control and crashed into a ditch and the driver, who was not seriously injured, was arrested. During the arrest, the RCMP says officers found brass knuckles and unsafely stored ammunition. Cody Allen MacDonald was charged with: flight from police impaired driving by alcohol or drug dangerous operation of a motor vehicle careless storage of ammunition unauthorized possession of a prohibited weapon (brass knuckles) failure to comply with release order conditions driving a motor vehicle while licence was suspended or cancelled MacDonald was held in custody and is scheduled to appear in Georgetown court on Thursday. For more P.E.I. news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTV News
15-05-2025
- Sport
- CTV News
Mustangs advance to Quarter Final at Centennial Cup
Regina Watch Melfort Mustangs pick up big overtime win over Valleyfield to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2025 Centennial Cup National Championship
