Episode Transcript
Beautiful, hot and sunny Sunday afternoon, he interrupted by alarms and public notifications
and just before midnight, Halifax RegionalMunicipality declaring a state of emergency because of
the wildfires raging through several subdivisions,more than fourteen thousand people displaced, dozens
of homes destroyed. It's I alreadybeen an unsettling twenty four hours, more
uncertainty for many and no rain forany of us in the immediate forecast.
(00:26):
And the update to reporters this morningfrom Deputy Halifax Fire Chief Dave Meldrum as
it could take the rest of theweek to subdue this fire. And he
says there's a huge team working fromnumerous agencies on this fire scene. And
he mentioned how it was a fivealarm call that came in that's the highest
response level possible for many, likelyaccounted for more than a hundred firefighters,
dozens of engines, trucks and bumps. Now I heard him mention how there
(00:49):
were some members who stayed past thefour hour time limit they usually put in
for their members for an active firescene, and for safety reasons, they're
swapped out and put into rehab orrehabilitation in a firefighter world, that means
sitting down, having your vitals recorded, and then being given fluids and rest.
Now there's little rest for anyone todayin that sense. It's cooler today
and the wind is shift at ChiefMeldrum saying in some cases that would push
(01:12):
the fireback towards the direction that's spreadfrom. But as much as that would
seem to be a very positive thing, there's still a lot of unburnt fuel
in those spaces, and from thevideos I've seen, the spread was accelerated
by the tinder dry coniferous trees.People describe burning pine and spruce needles raining
down on them as they were jumpingin vehicles to clear out. The videos
(01:33):
I've seen are frightening because of theintensity. If you've never been in a
wildfire situation, it's kind of hardto comprehend how fierce it can be and
how hopeless you can feel. It'svery little you can do to put it
out. With the amount of wateryou can carry in a backcan or spray
on it with the forestry hose.The amount of line you need to lay
out staggering when you're far away froma water source and you want to try
and contain it and taking a defensiveposition to try to protect homes and buildings
(01:57):
is resource intensive. Of course.The other way to fight it is from
the air. Helicopters from Nova Scotia'sNatural Resources Department around the job. Few
out of province water bombers are helping, but they're concentrating on the other huge
forest fire raging that's in Shelburne County, and it seems to be covering in
an even larger area than the onesin suburban Halifax, a lot fewer houses
(02:19):
people at risk, but much morechallenging area. To fight it, they
even had to close down a sectionof Highway one or three in the area,
cutting some people off from the onlyroads out of their community. As
Chief Meldron said, so far,no reports of any missing people, no
serious injuries, and people are steppingup to offer accommodations to those displaced,
and others are stepping in to helpthe pets and to hear that people have
(02:40):
lost their homes and belongings. Devastatingand apparently some of those are also the
homes of firefighters off duty and onesworking the call. Look for the helpers,
be kind to one another and befire safe always I'm Sheldon McLoud for
salt Wire. A turn off thenoise, tune in to what matters.
(03:07):
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