Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.
ST. JOHN’S, NL –
An out-of-control wildfire forced officials to order residents to flee their homes in the central Labrador community of Churchill Falls on Wednesday night.
Local officials issued a warning asking everyone in the town to be out by 8:15pm local time, “due to the changing conditions of the fire around the community.”
The notice asked residents to head east to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, which is a three-hour drive along a remote two-lane highway.
“I am in contact with officials and will be there to help in any way we can,” Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey said in a social media post sharing the alert. “Be safe and check on friends and neighbors at this time.”
Churchill Falls is home to about 700 people, and the town sits along the Trans-Labrador Highway, which cuts across Labrador’s vast, forested interior. The Churchill Falls generating station is approximately four kilometers east of the town centre, and supplies power to Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The eastern Canadian province’s online wildfire dashboard showed two fires burning near the community Wednesday night. The nearest was about 15 kilometers south-west of the town, covering an area of ​​about seven square kilometres.
Officials advised anyone in Churchill Falls who needs a trip to Happy Valley-Goose Bay to go downtown or the bus area at the generating station’s staff housing facilities. Those arriving at Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador’s largest community, were advised to register at the YMCA.
Seven wildfires were burning in Labrador on Wednesday, four of which were out of control. There were three fires listed as “sustained,” meaning they were no longer spreading, in the western part of the region. The four fires that are still spreading – including the fire that forced the evacuation of Churchill Falls – were in central Labrador.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on June 19, 2024
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
source link https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/residents-ordered-to-flee-central-labrador-town-as-wildfire-rages-nearby-1.6933367
