Crews poised to ‘attack’ historic wildfire in Shelburne County after rainfall | CBC News

If the power or data on your device is low, get your wildfire updates on CBC Lite. It’s our low-bandwidth, text-only website.

Much-needed rainfall in Shelburne County is allowing firefighters to “attack” a massive wildfire that has been burning out of control for nearly a week.

Dave Rockwood, a spokesperson with Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources, said early Saturday the rain has allowed crews to go on the offensive and “get on the fire line with a higher degree of safety.”

“I will caution that this rain does not yet mean we are out of the woods, but we are now able to have our ground crews kick it into high gear and get into these places we have not been able to set foot on in days to kick some ash,” Rockwood said in an email sent early Saturday.

Provincial and municipal officials are expected to provide an update about the wildfires burning in Shelburne County during a news briefing at 3 p.m. AT.

Premier Tim Houston will be joined by Shelburne Warden Penny Smith, Barrington Warden Eddie Nickerson and several DNR officers.

The briefing will be livestreamed here.

Crews battling fire

The fire burning in the Barrington Lake area remained about 23,015 hectares in size, or 230-square kilometres, as of Saturday morning.

It’s considered to be the largest wildfire ever recorded in Nova Scotia.

DNR said it has 90 firefighters on site Saturday, along with 40 volunteer municipal firefighters and a crew of 18 from Newfoundland and Labrador. There is one water bomber and five helicopters on scene.

Rockwood, who is based at the command post in Shelburne County, told CBC Radio’s Weekend Mornings later in the morning that crews in the area were pleased to get the rain overnight.

“We got a lot of smiles down here … I’m not sure how much [rain] we got, but our crews are checking on that today,” he said.

Watch as ground crews continue to battle Shelburne County wildfires Friday night

Rain overnight and Saturday has allowed firefighters to switch to a “direct attack” method, meaning crews can get in on the fire line more safely. (Nova Scotia government)

The area is expected to get more rain, which could help as the wind picks up.

“But with the increase in the humidity, we’re going to see less intensity, so we’re not anticipating any great run like we’ve seen over the initial — I can’t even remember — but a number of days,” Rockwood said.

He added that the area will be getting more support in the coming days. He said a group of American firefighters have crossed the Canadian border and should arrive sometime this weekend to help, with more arriving Monday.

Smaller fires burning nearby

A smaller fire, estimated to be about 114 hectares as of Saturday morning, is also burning out of control near Lake Road, which is within a kilometre or two of the Town of Shelburne. Several evacuations have been ordered in the area.

Another fire in Yarmouth County also continues to burn. It was about 163 hectares on Saturday morning.

Rockwood said crews are starting to “feel comfortable” about both of those fires. “They haven’t grown at all,” he said early Saturday.