A sign directing evacuees is seen as volunteers and workers set up an evacuation centre where food and shelter is being provided for those forced from their homes due to the wildfire burning in suburban Halifax on Tuesday, May 30, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
HALIFAX – As an unprecedented string of wildfires in Nova Scotia continued to burn out of control for a fourth day, fire officials were hoping for a break in the dry, windy weather.
But that probably won’t happen until Friday night, according to the latest forecast.
Still, there were indications today that provincial officials would soon allow some of 16,000 people evacuated from their residences in suburban Halifax to return home.
Halifax deputy fire Chief David Meldrum confirmed late Tuesday that the wildfire northwest of the port city’s downtown did not grow beyond the evacuation perimeter, where 200 homes and structures have been either damaged or destroyed.
But the deputy chief stressed that the fire could quickly “wake up and gain new energy.”
Meanwhile, a much larger uncontained fire in southwestern Nova Scotia has forced 2,000 people to leave their homes since the fire started on the weekend in Shelburne County.
As of today, the fire northwest of Barrington, N.S., has grown to almost 200 square kilometres, making it one of largest wildfires ever recorded in the province.
As well, a third out-of-control fire is burning near East Pubnico in southwestern Nova Scotia, though it is tiny by comparison at only one square kilometre but growing.
No deaths or injuries have been reported as a result of the fires.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 31, 2023.
