9,000 evacuated in northeast Canada due to wildfires
'We are seeing extreme fire behaviour out there. The fire is moving about 50 meters per minute,' says fire duty officer Jeff Motty
Around 9,000 people have been evacuated in northeastern Canada because of raging wildfires, officials said Saturday.
Residents of the towns of Labrador City and Wabush in Newfoundland and Labrador province were ordered to leave their homes, said provincial fire duty officer Jeff Motty.
“We are seeing extreme fire behaviour out there. The fire is moving about 50 meters per minute,” Motty said.
Images shared on social media showed lines of cars waiting to fill up at gas stations as the sky was obscured by enormous clouds of smoke.
“It was quite a shock to see that much smoke,” Labrador City resident Stacy Hunt told public broadcaster CBC. “And it’s been in pretty much the same place for hours now.”
In this remote region residents must evacuate more than 500 kilometres (310 miles) east via the only road available.
Motty said that the intensity of the fire made it impossible to use water bombers.
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