The capital of Canada’s eastern province of Nova Scotia has declared a state of emergency as an out-of-control wildfire raging near Halifax forced thousands of residents to evacuate and prompted the closure of schools.
The Halifax Regional Municipality has set up temporary accommodation for people fleeing the fire and reminded residents early on Monday that the evacuation orders are mandatory.
The wildfire, fed by strong winds and tinder-dry woods, has damaged dozens of homes and hampered rescue services, authorities said.
Dave Meldrum, deputy chief of Halifax Fire, told reporters on 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.
Smoke from a wildfire in Nova Scotia rises over homes in nearby Bedford, Canada
Smoke from the Tantallon wildfire rises over houses in nearby Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada, May 28 [Eric Martyn/Reuters]
“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 said.
Halifax, a port city of about 480,000 people, declared a state of emergency late on Sunday to help respond to the blaze, which was still burning in the nearby Tantallon and Hammonds Plains areas.
In a separate statement on Monday morning, it said 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 water bombers had arrived from the eastern provinces of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador to help local crews.
