Nova Scotia wildfires: Ottawa ready to assist as blaze burns near Halifax | 24CA News
The federal authorities says it stands prepared to help the province of Nova Scotia if wanted as a large wildfire burning close to the capital, Halifax, forces hundreds within the area to flee.
“The wildfire situation in Nova Scotia is incredibly serious – and we stand ready to provide any federal support and assistance needed,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned in a tweet Monday.
“We’re keeping everyone affected in our thoughts, and we’re thanking those who are working hard to keep people safe.”
A complete of eight lively wildfires had been burning within the province as of Monday morning.
In the Halifax area, a neighborhood state of emergency has been declared due to the blaze that began Sunday afternoon in Tantallon.
The exurban group is roughly a 30-minute drive northwest of downtown Halifax.
Halifax wildfire map.
Michael Collins/Global News
Federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair mentioned in a tweet Sunday that the federal authorities was following the wildfires in Nova Scotia “closely” and stands “ready to help if federal assistance is required.”
“We have been in touch with Nova Scotia and our officials at the Government Operations Centre are engaging with provincial officials,” a spokesperson for Blair advised Global News Monday.
“Should the province request federal assistance, we will work with them to identify and mobilize the federal resources that meet the needs they outline.”
A water bomber airplane flies by way of heavy smoke as an out-of-control wildfire in a suburban group exterior of Halifax rapidly unfold, engulfing a number of houses and forcing the evacuation of native residents on Sunday, May 28, 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
People cease on the aspect of the highway the place police arrange a roadblock as heavy smoke fills the sky from an out-of-control in a suburban group exterior of Halifax rapidly unfold, engulfing a number of houses and forcing the evacuation of native residents on Sunday, May 28, 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
In an replace Monday morning, Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Deputy Chief Dave Meldrum advised reporters that the fireplace burning within the Tantallon and Hammonds Plains space is “ongoing and still not under control.”
He mentioned firefighters had been known as to the Westwood subdivision of Tantallon, round 3:30 p.m. Sunday, the place there was a “very large and fast-moving fire.”
The blaze rapidly escalated by way of second, third, fourth and fifth alarms, “which is the first use of a fifth alarm that many of us can remember,” Meldrum mentioned.
Canadian Armed Forces members have been working in Alberta for weeks now as wildfires that started earlier within the month proceed to rage.
Around 300 had been deployed after the province requested federal assist to combat the fires.
Nova Scotia isn’t the one Canadian province battling wildfires. More than 200 lively fires are burning throughout the nation, in response to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
A provincial state of emergency stays in impact in Alberta, which was reporting 60 lively wildfires Monday.
Earlier this month, the federal authorities accredited a request from Alberta to help with the wildfire state of affairs there.
Nationally, the variety of wildfires is effectively above common for this time of yr and the world burned is almost 13 instances the typical for this time of yr, Natural Resources Canada mentioned.
More to return.
— with recordsdata from The Canadian Press and Global News’ Alex Cooke.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
