Long Lake wildfire continues to be held, crews making progress working inward

Officials say the Long Lake, N.S., wildfire is being held but it could still burn for weeks.

Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says the Long Lake wildfire in West Dalhousie, N.S., continues to be held Tuesday.

The fire, which first started burning on Aug. 13, had been considered out of control until Monday.

DNR says the wildfire remains at 8,468 hectares and crews are making progress “working inward from the edges of the fire zone.”

Scott Tingley, The Department of Natural Resources Manager of Forest Protection said the fire is now wrapped in a “secure perimeter.”

“We continue now to work on extinguishing and suppressing the fire inward and inward from the perimeter until we eventually move to a status of under control where we will be 100 per cent that the fire won’t spread and then from under control we will work towards there being no hot spots and that’s when the fire will be deemed extinguished,” says Tingley.

Crews are looking for any fire burning underground, dousing tree roots, soil and mosses as well as working on buffers around areas that have not burned.

“Crews are taking a systematic approach to make populated areas safe again. They are working around properties, checking for ash pits that could burn people/animals that walk on them, and taking down unstable trees. Removal of downed power poles and lines is also ongoing,” reads a post on DNR’s X account.

Thompson Rivers University, wildland fire professor Mike Flannigan said this can be a lengthy process, as firefighters have to check every spot to see if there is smoldering or use infrared cameras for hot spot detections.

“It’s burning deep because of the drought, and these fires can smolder for days and weeks and months and even survive the winter,” says Flannigan.

Flannigan said as long as there is smoldering, it is still considered a fire.

“Fire, we often think of that flaming combustion, but smoldering combustion is fire as well and you don’t see a flame. But it’s still burning, it’s just very slow and it can last weeks, months, and also you can get the core of trees start to burn and that can burn for a long time too. I am not surprised this is happening given how dry the conditions are in Nova Scotia,” adds Flannigan.

Tingley says the infrared scanning tools will be brought in later.

“As we get into further stages of extinguishment where there is more smoke, we will bring in infrared scanning tools that will either be operated by helicopter or drone and we will fly over the area and they will pick up heat that’s not available to the eyes,” says Tingley.

The following resources were on scene at Long Lake on Tuesday:

• 11 helicopters
• four planes with bird dog
• about seven pieces of heavy equipment
• 40 DNR staff
• 18 firefighters from Ontario
• 60 firefighters from Quebec
• support staff

More evacuees allowed to return home

Evacuees from 22 addresses, including 19 residences, were allowed to return home on Tuesday:

• 484 to 1073 Morse Road
• 4272 and 4291 Thorne Road
• 49, 77 and 321 Neaves Road

The province says power will be restored once people are back in their homes and extra waste collection has been arranged for Thursday.

About 110 civic addresses from the initial evacuation order are not yet safe for re-entry:

• the section of West Dalhousie Road from Che-Boag-A-Nish Road to Meadow Road
• all of Heartland Road and Medicraft Lane
• addresses on Thorne Road not listed above

People at about 360 civic addresses were allowed to return home last week.

Woods ban still in effect in some areas

The ban on entering the woods remains in effect in the following counties:

• Pictou
• Colchester
• Cumberland
• Hants
• Lunenburg
• Kings
• Annapolis
• Queens
• Shelburne
• Digby
• Yarmouth

The Nova Scotia government says the ban will remain in place in those areas until Oct. 15 or until conditions have improved enough for them to be lifted.

Nova Scotia first introduced a ban on entering the woods on Aug. 5.

A burn ban, which started on July 30, is still in effect across the province.

The fine for violating either ban is $25,000.

Air quality

There are currently no air quality statements or warnings in effect in Annapolis County.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Andrea Jerrett and Emma Convey

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page