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Firefighting efforts continue against two wildfires burning out of control on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula. (Ryan Cooke\/CBC)<\/p>\nFirefighting efforts continue against two wildfires burning out of control on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula. (Ryan Cooke\/CBC)<\/p>\n
Police are investigating a string of wildfires that have taken place in the\u00a0Conception Bay North community of Small Point-Adam’s Cove-Blackhead-Broad Cove, dating back to May.<\/p>\n
Officers in the Trinity-Conception area are working with the\u00a0RCMP’s East District General Investigation Section, Major Crimes Unit and Tactical Support Group.<\/p>\n
Harbour Grace RCMP\u00a0officers are\u00a0investigating smaller brush fires that took place earlier this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey said\u00a0violating a fire ban can result in a fine of no less than $1,000.<\/p>\n
The provincial government is expanding evacuation orders on the Avalon Peninsula, as two wildfires continue to rage, driving people from their homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a news release sent Tuesday afternoon,\u00a0“due to changes in fire behaviour and wind predictions,” the province issued an immediate evacuation order for sections of the Town of Holyrood stretching from the town boundary in the northeast, south down to the Irving Gas Station on the Conception Bay Highway.<\/p>\n
Public Safety\u00a0also ordered people in\u00a0Perry’s Cove \u2014 about six kilometres south of Kingston \u2014 to flee south on Route 70 to the Persalvic School Complex in Victoria, where they can register with the Canadian Red Cross.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The government also issued an evacuation alert for people in Salmon Cove, further south.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Burry Heights Campground, a children’s camp on Salmonier Line, is also evacuating.<\/p>\n
The camp will sign out its campers at 4:45 p.m. NT and will remain\u00a0closed\u00a0until the fire is contained.<\/p>\n
Earlier Tuesday, several vehicles had pulled up to a barricade near Perry’s Cove, to ask RCMP officers stationed there whether they could check on their homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like many others from the evacuated communities in the area, the people\u00a0were\u00a0desperate for information on whether or not their properties were still\u00a0standing.<\/p>\n
Down the road in Victoria, a police officer arrived at the evacuation centre and shared videos of the town with several residents, who appeared relieved to see their homes unscathed.<\/p>\n
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A police barricade near Perry’s Cove is keeping evacuated residents informed about a wildfire nearby. (Ryan Cooke\/CBC)<\/p>\n
But officials still don’t know what the raging wildfire has destroyed \u2014 only that it\u00a0has taken some buildings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“There’s still a number of spots we haven’t been able to get into to assess the damage,” said\u00a0North Shore Volunteer Fire Department Chief Roger Gillingham.<\/p>\n
Premier John Hogan echoed that at a news conference held at noon on Tuesday, where he told reporters he could confirm the Kingston fire destroyed structures overnight, which he said wasn’t surprising seeing as it had\u00a0grown to 735 hectares.<\/p>\n
At the same news conference, the Newfoundland and Labrador government issued a provincewide fire ban as\u00a0two out-of-control wildfires on the island’s\u00a0Avalon Peninsula continue to burn and threaten more evacuations.<\/p>\n
Forestry Minister Lisa Dempster\u00a0called\u00a0this summer\u00a0“a fire season like no other,” and the number of wildfires so far this year \u2014 192 according to government data \u2014\u00a0is putting a lot of stress on communities, provincial services and the environment.<\/p>\n
“A provincewide fire ban helps reduce the risk of wildfires and supports our efforts of suppression,” Dempster told reporters.<\/p>\n
Dempster, who attended the meeting virtually,\u00a0said the ban is in place until\u00a0Sept. 7, and will\u00a0be revisited at that time.<\/p>\n
Evening update<\/p>\n
Newfoundland and Labrador is availing of fire resources from New Brunswick to help\u00a0tackle three out-of-control wildfires burning on the island on Tuesday, says fire protection supervisor\u00a0Jeff\u00a0Motty.<\/p>\n
Shortly after 5 p.m. NT, Motty told\u00a0CBC News the largest\u00a0fire, near\u00a0Kingston in Conception Bay North,\u00a0has grown since its initial measurement on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
“The last time that was mapped, it was 721 hectares, but that one’s larger than that now. Again, it’s kicking up too much smoke to get an accurate figure,” Motty said.<\/p>\n
In a social media post around 7:00 p.m. N.T. on Tuesday,\u00a0Newfoundland Power advised that power has been shut down in the areas from Perry’s Cove to the end of Adam’s Cove to support the wildfire response.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second fire on the Avalon Peninsula is in Holyrood, which\u00a0borders the town of Conception Bay South.<\/p>\n
Motty said\u00a0water bombers have prevented that fire\u00a0from growing, and it sits at around 22 hectares.<\/p>\n
“We’ve been holding that one today with air support,” he said.<\/p>\n
The evacuation zone in Holyrood was expanded on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Motty said fire science was behind the decision as fire behaviour analysts projected the fire could grow.<\/p>\n
A third fire cropped up in central Newfoundland on Tuesday near the\u00a0Bay d’Espoir\u00a0Highway.<\/p>\n
Motty said helicopters and ground crews are on scene there.<\/p>\n
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Forestry Minister Lisa Dempster says the fire ban will be in effect until at least Sept. 7. (Ted Dillon\/CBC)<\/p>\n
Throughout Tuesday, two more fires were reported and subsequently put out, Motty said.<\/p>\n
He said, Holyrood is consuming the majority of aerial resources at the moment, but calls are in for additional resources.<\/p>\n
“As we deplete our resources, we just reach out to our neighbouring provinces and partners and just bolster our resources to help max out the demand,” Motty said.<\/p>\n
There have been 198 wildfires in Newfoundland and Labrador so far this year. Motty said, this time last year, there were only 58.<\/p>\n
He expects conditions to worsen through Tuesday night as hot and dry temperatures continue.<\/p>\n
‘Historic numbers’<\/p>\n
Speaking on two wildfires earlier on Tuesday \u2014\u00a0one near Kingston and the other near Holyrood, which have\u00a0prompted hundreds of people to evacuate<\/a>\u00a0this week \u2014\u00a0Hogan said he understands it’s a difficult time for impacted residents.<\/p>\n “No doubt it is a very serious situation,” he said.<\/p>\n Hogan asked residents across the province\u00a0to be diligent about accidentally starting fires while in wooded areas, including when driving ATVs\u00a0and using\u00a0chainsaws.<\/p>\n “It’s no secret this has been an unbelievable, historic, dry season on the island, which is one of the major reasons we’re seeing the abundance of forest fires,” Hogan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We can’t control mother nature of course but we can control what we’re doing.”<\/p>\n The nearly 200 wildfires this summer have burned roughly\u00a08,400 hectares of land across Newfoundland and Labrador.<\/p>\n Hogan called it “historic numbers.”<\/p>\n He said forestry crews are holding the line, but the fire\u00a0burned aggressively through the night. He said it burned along Adam’s Cove and Small Point.<\/p>\n That fire remains very\u00a0active,\u00a0and two water bombers, a helicopter and bird dog are on the scene on\u00a0Tuesday, plus ground crews.<\/p>\n Hogan said the\u00a0focus is on protecting structures in the communities and suppression efforts on the south edge \u2014\u00a0along the highway \u2014\u00a0to prevent the fire from growing in that direction.<\/p>\n He said there was no overnight growth on the fire near\u00a0Holyrood,\u00a0which is 22 hectares in size, and ground crews will work on hot spots throughout\u00a0Tuesday by dropping buckets from helicopters.<\/p>\n “We continue to make good progress on this fire,” Hogan said, adding there’s no report of structures having been destroyed.<\/p>\n Residents in Conception Bay North have told CBC News they suspect recent fires in the area weren’t caused by nature.<\/a><\/p>\n RCMP Chief Supt.\u00a0Pamela Robinson said\u00a0residents feel anxious, but investigations\u00a0are ongoing.<\/p>\n “I need to stress that we cannot investigate\u00a0what is not reported,” she said.<\/p>\n Even if people are able to put out a small brush fire, she urged them to report it.<\/p>\n Robinson said fire investigations are very complex and take time, and can be complicated further by evacuations.<\/p>\n She asked people with information, including about suspicious activity, to contact the local police department.<\/p>\n “Our communities are close-knit and information and rumours can spread very quickly, which then in turn, turn into fear and frustration,” she said.<\/p>\n Download our <\/strong>free CBC News app<\/strong><\/a> to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our <\/strong>daily headlines newsletter here<\/strong><\/a>. Click <\/strong>here to visit our landing page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Firefighting efforts continue against two wildfires burning out of control on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula. (Ryan Cooke\/CBC) Police are…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":122070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2147,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-122069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114978639297589332","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/nl-fire-hazard-map-aug-5.JPG\")
As of Tuesday morning, the Avalon Peninsula is considered at a very high and extreme risk of fire. (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador)<\/p>\n