News
Aerial Firefighting
Labrador wildfire ‘got worse really fast,’ residents given minutes to flee, man says
June 20, 2024 By The Canadian Press
Vehicles leave Churchill Falls, N.L. under a threat of a wildfire in a Wednesday, June 19, 2024 handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Robert Dawe Hundreds of people had a white-knuckle drive through a sky-splitting lightning storm Wednesday night after a wildfire forced them to leave their homes behind in central Labrador.
Robert Dawe says cars and trucks were “bumper to bumper” along the remote, two-lane Trans-Labrador Highway as people made the three-hour drive to safety in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
The Churchill Falls resident says lightning cracked the sky as he drove east from billowing forest fire smoke into torrential rains falling in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
Dawe says residents were asked to check in with officials in Churchill Falls before they left, and then again in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, to make sure they made it.
He says the emergency order to evacuate landed in residents’ text messages and emails at 7:30 p.m. local time, giving them 45 minutes to pack everything up and leave.
Dawe says that although officials had reported earlier that evening that the fires weren’t a threat, things “got worse really fast” when the wind suddenly shifted and pushed the flames closer to the community of about 700 people, which is home to a major hydroelectric power station.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2024.
