Rainfall helping water bombers fighting fire near Labrador City, says premier
Premier Andrew Furey says he's optimistic weather conditions will be a boon to firefighting efforts that are attacking the fire near Labrador City from its east and west sides.
Furey, speaking to reporters while attending a premiers' meeting in Halifax on Monday, said the provincial government hopes weather conditions will continue to be conducive to fighting the fire, about four kilometres from the town.
"There seems to be precipitation in the forecast. The wind patterns are favourable today. So hopefully it will be another very productive day of suppression and mitigation efforts."
Furey said he was concerned with the costs, both fiscal and emotional, associated with wildfires that communities like Happy Valley-Goose Bay are paying, saying he thinks it's the the government's job to be there to support them.
On Monday, the government announced it will be giving each household in Labrador City who was ordered to evacuate their primary residence $1,000, administered through the Red Cross.
(Darryl Dinn/CBC)
Justice and Public Safety Minister John Hogan told reporters the money is meant to help people recover the cost of gas, food and personal items that needed to be replaced following the evacuation. It's the same package the province offered people who were displaced by post-tropical storm Fiona in 2022, he said.
"As this shakes out over the next days or weeks, you know, obviously there will be some further financial impacts. And we'll be looking at a further stream of financial assistance to those who may have been impacted in terms of income loss for having to leave their job due to the evacuation order," he said.
Hogan estimated there are 3,000 households in Labrador City, but couldn't say exactly how much money will be handed out. Residents must register with the Red Cross by July 31 in order to receive the money.
Asked if residents of Churchill Falls, who were evacuated from their community for around two weeks beginning in June, would receive the same funds, Hogan said that isn't in the cards right now. Churchill Falls is a company town managed by N.L. Hydro to operate the nearby generating station.
"It's a much different situation there," he said. "It was a town where people … there'd be likely no lost income there. But right now we're just focusing on this situation."
Rain will help
Provincial fire duty officer George Gibbons said Sunday's efforts to fight a Category 1 fire near Labrador City were successful — and he's optimistic Monday's forecast of rain will help contain it.
Gibbons said the fire threatening the town has burned 14,000 hectares but work done by provincial firefighting crews was effective on the weekend.
Justice and Public Safety Minister John Hogan says residents of Labrador City can expect $1,000 from the province to help with costs associated with the evacuation of their homes this week. (Curtis Hicks/CBC)
"We did hold the perimeter there yesterday, which is a positive," he told CBC News on Monday morning.
However, he said there is still a lot of smoke in the air and there are hot spots around the fire's perimeter, he said.
"It's still a very hot and active fire."
On Friday evening, the provincial government ordered the town's evacuation, forcing more than 9,000 people to leave. Neighbouring Wabush is still under an evacuation alert.
The priority right now is to stop the fire from reaching the city and other critical infrastructure, said Gibbons. Water bombers will focus on the fire's southern and southwest perimeters on Monday.
Monday's forecast calls for rain, he said, which will increase humidity in the air and help fire suppression.
According to the provincial government's online fire dashboard, there are 13 fires in Labrador as of Monday morning.
Gibbons said some fires are being held or monitored and he hopes they will be extinguished in the next few days, allowing more resources to be diverted to Labrador West.
The provincial fire service hopes to bring in additional resources from outside Newfoundland and Labrador, he said, but that could be tricky as other fires across the country mean there are limited resources to request.
Buses like this allowed residents of Wabush to travel into Labrador City for groceries. (Darryl Dinn/CBC)
"There's a number of people that are competing for the same resources. There's a lot of fire activity across Canada," said Gibbons.
Rain coming but so is wind
Justin Boudreau, a meteorologist at the Gander weather office, said the immediate forecast for the Labrador West area is mixed.
"We have some good and bad news. Good news is it should be showering all day. The high should be around 20 C so not overly hot. It'd be better if it was colder," he told CBC News on Monday.
"The bad news is we do see the winds kind of switching over to a southwest and then to a west [direction] tonight."
Stay informed with the latest wildfire news and information at The Weather Network's wildfire hub page.
He said that westerly wind will push smoke and fire toward the city.
The good news, Boudreau said, between 15 and 20 millimetres of rain is expected Monday. If there are thunderstorms, he said, that rainfall amount could be as high as 40 millimetres.
"Which would be fantastic if it fell right over that fire," he said.
No end to evacuation order
Labrador City Mayor Belinda Adams, one of about 100 essential workers who have stayed behind, said the rainfall will help firefighters but she's worried about the wind picking up Monday evening and the possibility of thunderstorms.
She couldn't say when people would be able to return to Labrador City.
"Right now, we are not in a position to bring back our residents to the community. It is not safe to do so," Adams said Monday afternoon.
Wabush Mayor Ron Barron said he's monitoring the evolving situation.
"People have been pretty patient and understanding of what's playing out here," he said.
"Still not enough rain falling in our area. We need a good soaking here for a couple of days now to help us a lot with that fire."
Plans to allow residents of Wabush to travel to Labrador City for groceries began Monday, with two buses bringing people into the community. Barron said the buses can bring around 15 to 20 people at a time, and that residents should only line up for the bus once their street is notified by the town.
"We will do an organized thing where people will be able to go get some supplies," he said.
"I know the stores over there's preparing now, getting their stuff on the shelves and stuff like that. So we can do that."
The gas station is closed, he said, but before it shut down the town tried to make sure all residents were able to get a full tank of gas in case the evacuation order was issued.
"There is fuel still available, but we're trying to limit what we have because we might need it for an emergency too."
Taking thousands in
Since Friday's evacuation order, Happy Valley-Goose Bay has taken in thousands of people. Mayor George Andrews said his community can take care of the influx of people for as long as they need to.
"We're prepared to do whatever we need to do for however long we need to do it," said Andrews.
He said they have ample accommodations and facilities that haven't been tapped into yet. The province is also working with stores to ensure enough supplies are getting in, he said.
Helping evacuees has been a community effort, said Andrews, including the people, government, organizations like the SPCA, churches and the Red Cross.
"At the end of the day, we do what we have to do. We did it for, you know, 600 people from Churchill Falls, and now we're doing it for several thousand people from Labrador City."
This article, written by Elizabeth Whitten and Alex Kenndy, was originally published for CBC News. It contains files from Labrador Morning, The St. John’s Morning Show, Jenna Head and Carolyn Stokes.
Thumbnail image courtesy: Darryl Dinn/CBC
