Thousands of residents have been evacuated from Nova Scotia, the eastern prov-ince of Canada, as the authorities declared an emer-gency after a deadly wildfire — erupted near Halifax on Sunday — engulfed an area of hundreds of acres.
A temporary accommodation centre has also been set up by the Halifax Regional Municipality, reminding residents early Monday that evacuation orders are mandatory.
According to the authorities, the wildfire, fed by strong winds and tinder-dry woods, has damaged dozens of homes and hampered rescue services.
Videos went viral on social media showing thick smoke and huge flames.
Deputy chief of Halifax Fire Dave Meldrum, said Monday that there had been no reports of missing people or injuries but structures had suffered damage or were destroyed.
“Our firefighters and other partners worked hard to evacuate a large area of our city yesterday, and last night, we remained on scene,” Meldrum said.
“We had 100 firefighters here on scene overnight, fighting spot fires, extinguishing structures that were on fire, preventing more structures from being lost wherever we could,” he added.
Halifax is a port city of about 480,000 people who responded to the blaze, which was still burning in the nearby Tantallon and Hammonds Plains areas.
In a statement from the port city, a residence of 480,000 people, said Monday that more than 60 hectares (148 acres) had burned while about 16,400 people had been evacuated from their homes.
“There is not yet a complete count of damage, but it is anticipated that several structures have been lost,” the municipality said.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said that “water bombers had arrived from the eastern provinces of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador to help local crews.”
“We are in contact with our municipal and federal partners to ensure every resource is exhausted,” Tim Houston wrote on Twitter. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a tweet that his government was “ready to provide any federal support and assistance needed,” adding that “the wildfire situation in Nova Scotia is incredibly serious.”
“We’re keeping everyone affected in our thoughts, and we’re thanking those who are working hard to keep people safe,” he said.
Officials also highlighted that the fires also led to the evacuations of about 400 homes in New Brunswick at the weekend.
Mayor Brad Henderson of Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, said Monday that while progress was made, the blaze was still out of control.
Apart from these fires, the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia have been dealing with warm weather that has ignited several out-of-control wild-fires, halting oil and gas production. But, most of those fires have since been brought under control.
The causes of the fires, according to experts, are climate change that has worsened extreme weather such as wildfires, heatwaves and tropical storms around the world. Mike Flannigan, a professor at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia and a fire weather specialist, told Al Jazeera that while wildfires are common in Canada during the spring season, “this year has been very active.”
“We are seeing more extreme weather occurring in Canada and throughout the world because of climate change, leading to more intense wildfires, which are difficult to impossible to extinguish,” Flannigan said.—AFP
