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Rainfall over wildfires burning near Labrador West provided some much needed relief on Wednesday, but the mayor of Labrador City says it’s still too early to know when an evacuation order could be lifted for residents.
“With wind and the heat and things like that, it can easily spark again. So that’s why we don’t want to lift things too soon,” Jordan Brown told CBC Radio Thursday morning.
“We want to make sure that we understand the fire’s behaviour and we’ll be able to, you know, listen to the advice from forestry and their professionals.”
A state of emergency remains in place in Labrador City, along with an evacuation order for the areas of Walsh River, the Tamarack Golf Course, Duley Lake and Throne Lake, including all cabins.
A post on the Town of Labrador City’s social media said forestry officials will be reassessing conditions on Thursday, which includes a review of the evacuation order.
A Labrador-wide fire ban also remains in place after it was implemented by the province on Wednesday. The ban will last until at least July 13.
The Walsh River fire remains out of control, and was listed at 682 hectares in size as of 8:30 p.m. NT Wednesday evening, according to Newfoundland and Labrador’s active wildfire dashboard. The fire remains 12 kilometres from Labrador City.
Four other wildfires continue to burn around Labrador West, with the largest burning 10 hectares in size at Swanson Lake — 16 kilometres from Wabush.
Fires continue to burn in western Labrador. Rain has provided some relief, but as the CBC’s Mark Quinn reports, many people are still on edge.
Labrador West remains under a low-fire risk as a result of rainfall on Wednesday, according to the dashboard. Parts of central and eastern Labrador are under an extreme risk.
The dashboard lists 28 active wildfires burning across Newfoundland and Labrador — 25 across Labrador and three, all deemed under control, in central Newfoundland.
Rain expected to continue
David Neil, an Environment Canada meteorologist at the Gander weather office, said there is a chance of lightning strikes in Labrador West and the Churchill Falls area on Thursday.
But cooler temperatures over the next couple of days and a chance of periods of rain could help crews continue to fight the fires.
“Getting that amount of precipitation should kind of help in kind of fighting them, in ensuring that the spread isn’t too, too far,” Neil said.
“Is it going to be enough to really help kind of put them out? … some of the areas that are going to get lesser rain, probably not. But it should at least help kind of mitigate some of the spread.”
Neil said parts of eastern and central Labrador are expected to see more persistent rain in the coming days.
A yellow-level air quality warning remains in effect for the Labrador City and Wabush area as smoke from the wildfires — along with wildfires burning in Quebec — continues to hang in the air.
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