Shelburne County residents could soon learn if homes are damaged or destroyed

Nova Scotia

‘It’s going to be a shock for many,’ says local municipal official

Posted: June 06, 2023
Last Updated: June 06, 2023

People whose homes have been damaged or destroyed by the wildfire in Shelburne County could be notified as early as Tuesday night.

“It’s going to be a tough time for people,” Warren MacLeod, CAO of the Municipality of the District of Shelburne, told CBC News on Tuesday. “It’s going to be a shock for many people.”

The municipality is going through a database of the damage and plans to begin contacting homeowners.

An estimated 60 homes and a total of 150 structures have been destroyed by the wildfire there, which is the largest in the province’s recorded history.

The new numbers were released on Tuesday afternoon by Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton. The damage is in addition to the 200 structures, including 150 homes, lost in a separate fire in the Upper Tantallon area outside Halifax.

“When you add that to the Tantallon losses, this is a huge loss for our province and I am sincerely sorry to everyone who has lost their homes and belongings,” Rushton told reporters.

Rushton said of the 60 homes, some are primary residences while others could be cottages. He said the other structures include outbuildings like garages or sheds.

MacLeod said the municipality will have support packages, including help with insurance and mental health, for residents whose properties have been damaged or destroyed.

A team from Alberta is in the area to help the municipality with the process.

“We’ve been involved in these types of events before,” Simon Bradley, a team manager for Canada Task Force 2, told CBC News. “We went to the Fort McMurray fires, the Calgary floods … and there’s currently fires going on in Alberta that we’ve been assisting with. So we’re able to bring some of hat previous knowledge, some of that expertise to help the jurisdiction out here.”

MacLeod said updates will be posted to the Shelburne Emergency Management Facebook page.

A representative for Nova Scotia Power, Matt Drover, said there hasn’t been much damage to electrical equipment, but some poles and lines will need to be repaired.

If anyone is returning home and the power is off, Drover said they should unplug electrical devices to avoid power surges. He also urged people to do a visual assessment to check for damage. He said in some cases, an electrician may be needed before Nova Scotia Power can safely restore power. Drover said if customers come back and the power is already on, they should still inspect their homes for damage.

Wildfire status

Officials took to the skies above blazes burning in southwestern Nova Scotia on Tuesday to get a sense of the status of the Shelburne County fire, which started May 27.

Scott Tingley of the provincial Department of Natural Resources said rain over the last several days has helped with fighting the fire, but it had prevented crews from getting an aerial view.

As a result, the fire near Barrington Lake — which covers an area of 24,980 hectares, or about 250 square kilometres — was still considered out of control, but had not grown.

WATCH| Nova Scotia wildfires update for Tuesday, June 6

“They want to get up in the air [and] have a look with their eyes,” Tingley, the department’s director of forest protection, told CBC’s Information Morning Nova Scotia on Tuesday.

“And then through the week, as the rain starts to taper off, they’ll also want to get up and take advantage of technology like infrared scanning and things like that to help identify hotspots.”

Dave Rockwood, a public information officer with Natural Resources, said the status of the fire could change over the next few days.

‘Everyone went to bat for us’

The department said about 180 firefighters were on scene Tuesday, as well as four helicopters and four water bombers from Montana.

Rockwood said in an afternoon update that while there has been 95 millimetres of rain in the area since last Friday, the water hasn’t significantly penetrated the ground to cool it down. 

“That is why we’re going to be sticking around this area for the foreseeable future until everything is safe for the residents to move back in,” Rockwood said.

Some residents were allowed back in their homes Monday after mandatory evacuation orders were lifted.

Troy Atwood, a 58-year-old lobster fisherman, returned to Gunning Cove Wharf on Tuesday to haul in gear and traps that had to be abandoned during the evacuations. 

He noted a fellow lobster fisherman and volunteer firefighter lost his home in the wildfire. Atwood and his son were helping to haul in that fisherman’s gear as he worked to battle a blaze that has burning for more than eight days.

“He hasn’t been able to get his gear and he has no home to go to right now,” said Atwood. “People just give a little more and help out the ones that don’t have nothing now.”

He attributes the fact that his own house and the homes of his family members are still standing to the crews that have been tirelessly fighting the fires, some for more than a week straight.

“Everyone went to bat for us. Strangers, perfect strangers that were brought from away,” he said.

“All the people ought to be very appreciative that they’ve got places to come to, because if they hadn’t been doing what they were doing, and the efforts of the water bombers and everything, you wouldn’t see none of this standing here. It’d all be gone.

“Night after night after night, day after day, they fought. Places that were so hot they didn’t know they was going to get out of them sometimes, and they still went back and they fought.”

Atwood’s son, Joshua Atwood, said he was on the wharf last week when he was driven out by smoke. The area was soon after included in the evacuation orders.

The 33-year-old man said at least one local fisherman lost hundreds of traps that had been already hauled off the water in the wildfire.

“People work their whole life for some stuff that they can’t replace now,” said Josh Atwood, adding each trap is worth around $300.

“So I mean that that’s a big chunk of change that’s gone that they have to try to recoup for themselves to continue doing what they do.”

An update from the municipalities of Shelburne and Barrington on Monday evening said a fire is still burning at a construction and demolition debris disposal site located Highway 103. 

Highway 103 from Exit 27 to Exit 30 remained closed Tuesday. Crews were inspecting the highway to make sure it was safe, and a notice would be sent when the highway reopens.

Provincial officials are working to assess the status of properties and infrastructure. The municipalities said they anticipate communicating with property owners in the impacted areas this week. 

A six-member recovery task force from Alberta has joined crews to support recovery measures.

“Community members should prepare to be in this wildfire situation for an extended period,” the email from the municipalities said.

Where to get the mail

Canada Post says it is making mail available to evacuees. It is posting service disruptions on its website.

In a news release, it said customers not receiving mail in the areas impacted by wildfires can pick it up at the following locations:

• Barrington: Barrington Post Office, 2398 Highway 3, Barrington.
• Barrington Passage: Barrington Passage Post Office, 3518 Main Street, Barrington Passage.
• Clarks Harbour: Clarks Harbour Post Office, 2797 Main Street, Clarks Harbour.
• Dartmouth: 28 Topple Drive, Dartmouth.
• Lockeport: Lockeport Post Office, 30 Beech Street, Lockeport.
• McGray: McGray Post Office, 1867 Stoney Island Road, Centreville.
• Shelburne: Shelburne Post Office, 162 Mowatt Street, Shelburne.
• Tantallon: Tantallon Post Office, 12724 Peggy’s Cove Road, Tantallon.

Canada Post said customers who have a trackable package should check if it has arrived before heading to the post office. It said customers must present a valid government-issued photo ID to pick up letter mail or packages.

Canada Post is also offering free mail forwarding for the next 12 months. It said impacted residents have until July 5 to register. The following are eligible postal codes:

• Barrington Passage: B0W 1G0.
• Barrington: B0W 1E0.
• Clarks Harbour: B0W 1P0.
• Clyde River: B0W 1R0.
• McGray: B0W 2G0.
• Port Clyde: B0W 2S0.
• Shelburne: B0T 1W0.
• Tantallon: B3Z 1A0.

Long road ahead

Earlier Rockwood noted the wildfire has gone deeper into the ground in a number of places, making it difficult to completely extinguish the fires.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do before we’d ever declare this out,” he told the CBC’s Information Morning Cape Breton.

Even once the situation has settled and is passed off to the local office, Rockwood said he suspected fire officials will need to keep an eye on the location for most of the summer. 

“But I think this large operation of the contingency that’s here, they’re still going to be here for at least probably end of the week or more,” he said. 

Halifax-area fire update

Halifax’s director of emergency management, Erica Fleck, said there were still around 4,100 residents waiting to get back to their homes in the Upper Tantallon area, and it could be a wait of a “few days at least.”

Fleck said the majority of those residents are staying with family, friends or at hotels.

She said well-water testing kits ran out at the fire department on Hammonds Plains Road and work is underway to get more.

In a news release at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the municipality announced where residents can pick up kits and drop off kits for testing. It said residents must not drink their well water until the testing is complete and they have results indicating it is safe to drink.

Kits can be picked up at the Upper Hammonds Plains Community Centre at 711 Pockwock Road on the following dates:

• Wednesday, June 7 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m
• Thursday, June 8 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Friday, June 9 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Kits can be dropped off for testing at the Upper Hammonds Plains Community Centre on the following dates:

• Monday, June 12, before noon.
• Tuesday, June 13, before noon.
• Wednesday, June 13, before noon.

The municipality said major insurance companies will be available to speak with affected residents on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Canada Games Centre. It said this will be the final day representatives are available to speak with affected residents.

The Black Point and Area Community Centre at 8579 St Margarets Bay Road will be open as a comfort centre from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily until further notice.

Halifax Water has set up water stations where residents can fill their own containers with drinking water:

• 134 Micmac Drive – Micmac Drive Park.
• 290 White Hills Run – Madeline Symonds Middle School.
• 297 Pockwock Road – White Hills Care Centre.
• 711 Pockwock Road – Upper Hammonds Plains Community Centre.

Hospitals reopening

The Roseway Hospital and the Shelburne Community Health Centre — which both closed on May 31 because of the wildfires — will reopen Tuesday.

In a news release on Monday night, the province said most programs and services will be back in operation at Roseway on Tuesday, including the emergency department and outpatient blood collection.

Most inpatients who were forced to leave will be transferred back to Roseway on Tuesday.

Residents will be able to book appointments on Tuesday for non-urgent health care at the Barrington Community Health Clinic, where a mobile clinic will be operating, anytime from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Residents are asked to call 902-637-1378 to set up an appointment and to call back if they’re unable to get through.

A mobile clinic for non-urgent care is open Tuesday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Shelburne Community Centre.

The Shelburne Family Practice team is offering primary care appointments by phone. To book, call 902-637-1378.

Queens Family Health in Liverpool is offering primary care appointments for people in Barrington or Shelburne. Call 902-354-3322 from Monday to Friday.

Mental health and addictions staff will be at the Sandy Wickens Memorial Arena in Barrington and the Shelburne Community Centre until Monday at 5 p.m.

For a full list of mental health supports available for people impacted by the wildfires, click here.

Evacuation order still in place for some residents

Some residents of Shelburne County are still under an evacuation order. The mandatory evacuation order was lifted for residents of the region spanning:

• From 2794 Highway 3 (Saint Phillip’s Roman Catholic Church/Downey Brook) to 1225 Port Latour Rd., including Reynoldscroft, a part of Eel Bay, and Blanche.
• Oak Park Road.
• River Road.
• Old Post Road.
• Villagedale Road.
• Barrington.
• Smithsville.
• Baccaro.
• McGill Road (McGill Lake area of Upper Clyde Road) to 2461 Upper Clyde Rd.
• From Exit 27 along Highway 3 at Birchtown to 1634 Shore Rd. in Gunning Cove.

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With files from Gareth Hampshire, Information Morning Nova Scotia, Information Morning Cape Breton