Latest updates:
- Kingston fire is now 9,127 hectares.
- Paddy’s Pond fire 308 hectares.
- Martin Lake fire is 2,160 hectares.
- Cabot Academy elementary school in Western Bay destroyed.
- Air quality warning in effect for northern Avalon Peninsula and St. John’s area.
- Evacuation alert issued for Job’s Cove, on the north side of Conception Bay.
- About 100 homes destroyed by Kingston fire, including at least 33 homes in Small Point-Broad Cove-Blackhead-Adam’s Cove, and at least 10 homes in the community of Kingston.
Air support was temporarily grounded Friday morning, as the Kingston fire in Conception Bay North continued to grow and burn out of control.
Premier John Hogan said the Kingston fire was 9,127 hectares Friday morning.
“Weather conditions can dictate what we do, and this is the first day we’ve had low ceilings, there’s low ceilings right now,” he told reporters on Friday during a live update that began at 10:15 a.m NT.
“As of this moment the air assets are unable to get to the Kingston fire, and they can’t fly. But we will continue to monitor that throughout the day.”
However, Hogan said the weather conditions improved on Friday. He said the drop in temperature, forecasted rain and shifting winds could help fire suppression.
He said there were 80 Canadian Armed Forces firefighters and 20 Ontario firefighters helping with the effort on the fire’s northern flank, working to protect structures and put out hot spots.
Job’s Cove residents remained on evacuation alert Friday morning.
Safety priority
Craig Coady, director of the province’s wildfire program, said the first priority is the safety of people. After that, it’s protecting properties and infrastructure.
“The question we have to ask ourselves when planning out operations each day: Are we putting our first responders or our citizens at undue risk?”
Coady said they have to look at the conditions when deciding how to fight a fire, and the low ceiling in the St. John’s area meant aerial support couldn’t fly.
Cabot Academy destroyed
Education Minister Bernard Davis said the Kingston fire destroyed Cabot Academy elementary school in Western Bay.
“This is certainly a massive loss for the community, but we are here to support the school community, and provide as much information and support as we possibly can,” Davis said.
He said students and staff will have a place to go in the new school year.
Everyone affected will be contacted in the coming days with more information, Davis said.
Meanwhile, he said he doesn’t anticipate any delays to the school year for students and staff returning to schools that were being used to support evacuees and firefighters.
Paddy’s Pond fire evacuation orders, alerts remain in place
As for the Paddy’s Pond fire, Hogan said it was about 306 hectares and was still very smoky with hot spots.
He was hopeful cooler temperatures and about five millimetres of rain would help fire suppression.
He said helicopters would drop buckets of water on the fire on Friday, and there were 30 ground crew on site. He said the fire guard construction was also going well.
Hogan said the Paddy’s Pond fire evacuation orders and alerts remained in place.
Martin Lake area cabins sprayed down
Hogan said the Martin Lake fire was 2,190 hectares in size Friday morning.
He expected cooler temperatures and rainfall would help suppress the fire, but the Bay d’Espoir Highway remained closed until further notice.
“Cabins in the area were sprayed down, and we continue to assess the impact on the Rushy Pond cabins,” Hogan said.
He said four helicopters, a bird dog and two water bombers would be on site Friday, as well as a ground crew.
Another fine issued
Hogan said there was an illegal fire in Gander on Thursday, so another $50,000 fine was issued for violating the provincewide fire ban.
RCMP Chief Supt. Pamela Robinson said the police were investigating fires, and asked people to report suspicious behaviour.
“Actions have consequences,” she said.
Robinson said people could face serious penalties, including tickets, fines and jail time.
While the Kingston fire has spread to the sands in Northern Bay, provincial fire duty officer Bryan Oke said he’s hopeful with cooler and damper weather conditions they will be able prevent the fire from spreading further.
“We anticipate heavy aerial support and suppression activities along with some structural protection and some support from RCMP and Canadian Armed Forces,” Oke told CBC Radio’s The St. John’s Morning Show.
He said crews worked hard on the Paddy’s Pond fire on Thursday to sustain its northern boundary and they did good work along its southern portion.
“They have a wet line established there,” said Oke. “We’re hoping that the cooler, damper temperatures help suppression activities there today.”
‘Modest growth’ in central
In central Newfoundland, Oke said the Martin Lake fire had “modest growth” but the fire hasn’t crossed the Bay d’Espoir Highway.
Oke said while the wildfire situation can change quickly, crews are prepared.
“Fire behaviour changes at a moment’s notice here and our crews are well trained and have the skill sets to be able to address that.”
Labrador City said it is responding to the provincial government call-out for aid, sending its firefighters to help fight the Kingston fire.
“It is truly heartwarming to see our province come together during such a difficult time,” Mayor Belinda Adams said in a statement.
On Thursday town of Small Point-Broad Cove-Blackhead-Adam’s Cove shared a preliminary assessment of the destruction.
In a social media post, the town said 33 homes had been destroyed in the community from both the ongoing Kingston fire and the wildfire in May.
Councillor Mark Ploughman said they were able to get an RCMP escort into the community on Thursday to see the damage and catalogue which dwellings that had been lost.
One structure destroyed was a schoolhouse — a registered heritage structure — which Ploughman called “iconic” and served as a community hub.
“When a community loses one of those, it’s pretty impactful,” said Ploughman.
He said town council has started reaching out to residents to inform them about their homes’ status and what support could be available in the coming months.
“From my perspective, driving through there yesterday, there’s a lot of areas of the town where the fire didn’t touch at all and it looks exactly the same,” said Ploughman.
‘Long and challenging week’
Near St. John’s, local firefighters continue to work on suppressing the Paddy’s Pond fire and St. John’s regional Fire Department platoon Chief Mike Hall said crews are looking at every way to stop the spread of the fire.
“It’s been a long and challenging week but our crews are resilient. We’re coming into this with a positive mindset every single day,” he said.
Hall said the biggest challenge fighting the Paddy’s Pond fire is that some areas aren’t accessible by the ground.
“We’ve been doing our part in terms of what we’re able to do from the ground,” Hall said.
The heat warning issued by Environment Canada that had been in effect for several days has been lifted, but an air quality warning due to the Kingston and Paddy’s Pond fires is in effect for the north Avalon Peninsula and St. John’s area.
Meteorologist Justin Boudreau said there is more smoke coming from the Kingston fire rather than the Paddy’s Pond fire.
“So really the trick will be this evening when the winds shift from southerly to northerly, the plume from the Kingston fire is probably going to sweep across the Avalon,” he said.
There will likely be a brief period of low air quality Friday evening in the St. John’s metro and areas south of the fire, he added.
Boudreau said between two to four millimetres of rain is expected to fall over the region on Friday, adding there is a good chance of thunderstorms moving across the island, which might bring rainfall.
He said periods of drizzle are expected overnight, until Saturday morning, with temperatures dipping as well.
“What the showers will do — not entirely sure. It may improve things for sort of Friday night into Saturday but I would expect it’s probably not going to be enough to put that fire out.”
An air quality statement is in effect for parts of central Newfoundland due to the Martin Lake fire.
As of Friday morning, the provincial fire hazard map considers most of the island of Newfoundland to be at a moderate to extreme fire risk, with the Burin Peninsula at a low fire risk. Labrador is also considered to be between a low risk to extreme along the coast.
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.
