Out of control wildfires near Churchill Falls continue to burn but officials are optimistic

Mark Lawlor, the provincial forest fire duty officer for Newfoundland and Labrador, is feeling cautiously optimistic about the ongoing battle to douse the fires near Churchill Falls.

Of the two fires in that area, Lawlor says crews have made good progress on the one 17 kilometres west of Churchill Falls.

"Yesterday we had helicopters and ground crews working that fire," Lawlor said. "Yesterday was a good day on that fire. There was very little open flame. It was mostly smoldering fire in the ground."

As for the second fire which is approximately 7 kilometres west of Churchill Falls, Lawlor said that one did briefly pose a concern on Friday evening.

"Yesterday we had the water bombers working that fire and things went well on that fire till approximately 4:30 yesterday evening when on the northwest flank of that fire, which is not adjacent to Churchill Falls, we saw some fire behaviour there," Lawlor said. "We put the water bombers on that and as of yesterday evening things were looking pretty good again with that fire."

Lawlor said Saturday's weather conditions should be optimal for containing the fires.

"With the weather conditions that are predicted, we are hopeful that we won't see the type of fire behaviour that we saw yesterday," Lawlor said. "Hopefully it will give us a really good day to secure the edges closest to Churchill Falls and keep that fire down."

As of Saturday afternoon, fire crews focused their efforts on keeping the fire on the south side of the Churchill River. Ground crews are continuing to work hotspots near the Brinco Bridge location.

The company town of around 750 people, which houses a massive hydroelectric plant that provides power to the province and neighbouring Quebec, was evacuated on Wednesday night as the pair of fires made large gains nearby.

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro also released an update on Saturday morning. In a post on its website, the energy company said "conditions in Churchill Falls remain stable at this time with the fire remaining on the south side of the river."

As well, Hydro said "plant operations remain unaffected at this time and is not at immediate risk."

Meeting for evacuees

A mandatory meeting for the evacuated residents of Churchill Falls was also held on Saturday morning.

"We've asked all of our employees who are still in the Goose Bay area to come in and register with our human resources team," said Gerard Dunphy, Hydro's Vice President of Churchill Falls and Muskrat Falls, a position that is responsible for the operations of the Churchill Falls Generating Station, as well as the town and associated facilities such as the airport and the school.

"We need to understand what their needs are going to be in the next days so that we can plan accordingly because we don't know how long we will be outside Churchill Falls," Dunphy said.

Susan Chislett is one of the hundreds of people evacuated from Churchill Falls. She said the meeting was all about Hydro offering support to their employees. Chislett is currently staying with friends in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, but her parents are in Carbonear, Newfoundland.

"Our employers have agreed that if myself and my husband and our daughter wanted to catch the ferry, they'll reimburse us for our costs to go just to be with family," Chislett said.

She said she probably will head to Carbonear, but she found it hard to leave Churchill Falls this week, as it is the community where she was born and raised.

"It was very surreal," Chislett said. "It was absolutely crazy. My husband said, 'We're walking away from everything we ever built or had'. And I said, 'Yeah, but we got each other.' So at the end of the day, we're safe, we're happy, we got a roof over our head."

Fire ban still in effect

Aside from the Churchill Falls fires, fire officer Lawlor says there are nine other wildfires as of Saturday morning, however none of them pose any great concern.

"Those fires are generally remote fires that we are simply monitoring," Lawlor said. "There are no values at risk. So we're just letting those fires burn."

Lawlor also wanted to remind the public of the ongoing fire ban in the province.

"We don't need any more fires at this time that could cause strain on resources," Lawlor said. "A lot of our fires on the island are human caused. So that's why we have the fire ban in place. Please obey that fire ban and hopefully we can get through this time with no fires on the island."

Despite those concerns, Lawlor says the province does have enough resources to manage the situation in Churchill Falls.

"Our resources are adequate to do the job we need to do right now with the fires in Labrador and on the island. We do have sufficient crews and given as well we have the added water bombers in Labrador now that really significantly increases our capacity to fight fire."

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