An estimated 14,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in areas surrounding Nova Scotia’s capital city, Halifax, as strong winds are causing local wildfires to spread rapidly, according to Halifax Deputy Fire Chief David Meldrum.
Meldrum told reporters on May 29 that the evacuations began escalating in the afternoon the day prior after wildfires began spreading and destroying a number of homes in the areas of Tantallon and Hammonds Plains, which are just northwest of downtown Halifax.
Meldrum said firefighters first received a report of a fire in Tanatallon’s Westwood subdivision on Sunday afternoon and that the first-responding units to arrive discovered a “very large and fast-building fire.”
Meldrum said the fire travelled quickly and built “significantly,” causing firefighters to escalate through “second, third, fourth, and fifth” fire emergency alarms.
He said that this was the “first use of a fifth alarm that many of us can remember in this community.”
Meldrum added that there have not yet been any reports of injuries or missing people despite the fast-growing fires, but said there are “numerous affected structures” in Westwood and Hammonds Plains, some of which have just been damaged but others destroyed.
Around 100 firefighters have been deployed to fight the wildfires, Meldrum said, and they’ve been using two helicopters from the federal Department of Natural Resources. They will also receive two water bombers from Newfoundland and Labrador today.
Meldrum also said that the lack of rain in the forecast could prolong the fire until later this week.
Halifax’s mayor, Mike Savage, and the RCMP both issued emergency warnings to local residents on May 28.
Savage declared a seven-day local state of emergency, which he says will give the municipality access to emergency funds.
