I continue to monitor the wildfires in Newfoundland and am now including Labrador. I just went to the Wildfire Dashboard on the Newfoundland and Labrador Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture Website to check out the information (including a map)accessed on August 20th at 10 AM. Note that I am unable to access the Wildfire Dashboard on Chrome on my Mac, but the link works in Firefox and Safari.
By far the largest of the three out of control wildfires burning in Newfoundland and Labrador is the Kingston Fire in eastern Newfoundland, first reported on August 3rd, that has burned 10,708 hectares or 26,440 acres. and is still out of control. This is over double the hectares burned (5,236) that I wrote about in my August 11th post. According the CBC August 19th report that includes excerpts from a press conference by John Hogan, the Newfoundland & Labrador Premier the fire has burned 107 square kilometers due to better and more accurate fire mapping. For reference, 107 square kilometers is 10,700 hectares. He reports that an estimated 203 structures have been lost and some of these structures are not residences but may be sheds, a school and the like. Finally he reported that water bombers and five heavy helicopters worked the fire on August 19th.
Other wildfires burning in Newfoundland & Labrador as of August 19th are two other fires that are out of control:
- Martin Lake Fire also in eastern Newfoundland that I last reported on August 5, has burned 1,770 hectares or 4,374 acres, an increase of over 1,100 hectares burned that I wrote about on August 11th.
- Udjuktok Bay Fire in Labrador, first reported on August 8th, has burned 571 hectares or 1,411 acres.
The Holyrood Fire in eastern Newfoundland, first reported on August 4th is under control at 22 hectares or 54 acres.
Finally the Paddy's Pond Fire, first reported on August 11th is being held at 318 hectares or 786 acres.
Definitions from the Wildfire Dashboard:
- Out of Control: A wildfire not responding or only responding on a limited basis to suppression action such that the perimeter spread is not being contained.
- Being Held: With currently committed resources, sufficient action has been taken to prevent fire spread beyond existing or predetermined boundaries on a percentage of the fire based on prevailing and forecasted conditions
- Under Control: A wildfire having received sufficient suppression action to ensure no further spread of the fire.
All of Canada is having a severe wildfires season. For the latest information on wildfires in all of Canada go to this interactive map from Canada's Natural Resources, click on overlay and you can select various overlay options including but not limited to active wildfires. For example, there is a 3,210 hectare out of control fire burning in Nova Scotia and several out of control fires in New Brunswick.
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