A fire east of Québec in Newfoundland and Labrador has burned more than 24,000 acres and forced thousands to evacuate Labrador City. CNN reported that the “extremely aggressive inferno” was considered contained earlier this week, but weather changes on Friday blew the fire back to life and it spread rapidly. Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador Andrew Furey said Saturday the fire had grown to 22,000 acres and had spread 13 miles in about four hours.
In a news conference on Sunday, Furey said weather conditions are favourable for firefighting. “We have some good news today. There is no significant growth in the size of the fire that is just northwest of Lab City,” he told reporters. The fire has burned through about 14,000 hectares (about 35,000 acres) to within four kilometres of the community — the same as Saturday.
Light rain, lower temperature and humidity, and northeast winds has kept the fire away from the town and burning onto itself.
Four water bombers are fighting on the eastern front of the fire. Six to eight are fighting on the western side from Quebec.
Around 9,500 people were evacuated from Labrador City, said Jeremy Reynolds with the provincial government. “A contingent of essential personnel have remained behind to oversee the emergency response,” he said.
The remoted town of Labrador City, in the northwestern part of the province, is about 900 miles north of Canada’s capital city of Ottawa.
A province-wide outdoor fire ban prohibiting setting of fires on forest land or within 300 metres of forest land is now in effect in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Significant firefighting resources are currently dedicated to wildfire suppression near the communities of Labrador West.
Updates on the location, status, and size of active fires can be viewed online at the NL Active Wildfire Dashboard.
Residents were told to evacuate to the Town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay – a six-hour drive away.
