'Many, many lives turned upside down' by wildfires: N.S. premier
CTV
Nova Scotia’s premier says the “historic” wildfires in the province have caused a “breath-taking amount of damage.”
Nova Scotia’s premier says the “historic” wildfires in the province have caused a “breath-taking amount of damage.”
“Weather has favoured the fires all week, not the firefighters. We’re hopeful this will soon change,” Premier Tim Houston said during a news conference Friday.
Province-wide there are 14 active wildfires, four of which are out of control, and the fires cover about 23,000 hectares of land as of Friday afternoon.
In Shelburne, more than 5,000 residents have been evacuated — representing half of the community’s population. During peak evacuations in the Halifax area, more than 16,000 were forced to leave their homes.
“This is historic,” Scott Tingley, manager of forest protection with the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, said, adding that the fire in Shelburne County is the largest recorded wildfire in the province’s history.
“Through all this despair, zero deaths, zero missing persons, zero serious injuries. This says a lot about the professionalism of our first responders leading the response,” the premier said.
“No lives lost, but an absolutely breath-taking amount of damage and many, many lives turned upside down.”
