Newfoundlanders busking and cooking to help in fight against roaring wildfires

ST. JOHN’S — Evacuees who fled a roaring wildfire near Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest city received a special donation Wednesday from a young musician.

Ten-year-old accordion player Zander Wright raised $121 while busking Tuesday outside a local convenience store south of St. John’s, the same day some residents of nearby Paradise, N.L., were told to evacuate their homes and businesses.

“I felt like it was the right thing to do, to donate and help people in the fire,” Wright said in an interview as he delivered his earnings to a reception centre for evacuees in Kelligrews, N.L.

Zander lives with his family in Conception Bay South, a town on the outskirts of the provincial capital that is under a state of emergency.

“Which means we could be called to evacuate at a moment’s notice,” said his mother, Karen Pratt. “People close by to us have already been evacuated. It’s so scary.”

Five out-of-control wildfires were burning Wednesday across Newfoundland and Labrador. The largest, near Kingston, N.L., on the northeastern shore of Conception Bay, had grown to more than 64 square kilometres, Premier John Hogan told a briefing in St. John’s.

The Kingston fire, which started Aug. 3, has forced about 3,000 people from their homes and destroyed an unknown number of homes and structures. Officials have said the smoke in the area is too thick for crews to survey the destruction.

About 100 km to the east near St. John’s, the wildfire — known as the Paddy’s Pond fire — has prompted provincial officials to ask thousands of residents within the metropolitan area to be prepared to flee at a moment’s notice.

An evacuation advisory issued for cabin owners in the Martin Lake, Great Rattling Brook and Rushy Pond area and access roads in Central Newfoundland was expanded Wednesday evening to include the Paradise Lake area. It said people are advised to leave immediately.

Hogan said Wednesday the fire was burning about 250 metres from the Trans-Canada Highway, about 15 km south of the city’s downtown. Six water bombers — four from Newfoundland and Labrador and two from Ontario — were working to contain the flames.

The fire had grown to about 2.5 square kilometres, according to the provincial wildfire dashboard. Extreme fire conditions forced officials to pull groundcrews off the southern edge of blaze on Tuesday, Hogan said.

Still, officials said water bombers had slowed the growth of the fire, but they said it was still burning out of control.

Meanwhile, the provincial government has introduced a ban on all-terrain vehicles on forested roads.

It said the temporary restriction would remain in place until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, when the wildfire index would be re-assessed. The notice from the forestry ministry also noted a one-time exemption for people needing to leave a restricted forested area would be allowed, though that would end at 11:59 p.m. Friday.

Earlier in the week, Hogan said an ATV ban wasn’t a good idea because off-road vehicles are important for those who live and work in the woods.

“What’s changed is fires continue to happen,” he said. “We need to make sure that no further fires crop up because we only have so many assets … to fight the current fires.”

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services issued a notice Wednesday announcing impacts to services at acute-care facilities in St. John’s hospitals due to the impacts of the wildfires. It said some services, such as elective surgeries and non-urgent outpatient endoscopy procedures, would be postponed.

“NL Health Services would also like to reassure the public that urgent and emergent health-care services are continuing at this time and the emergency departments remain open,” it added.

Officials have also handed out two fines — one to an individual and one to a corporation — for activity violating a provincewide fire ban, Hogan said.

“I really hope people understand the seriousness of the fire ban and the fire regulations and what we’re asking people to do,” Hogan said. “If you do violate this, we will find you and we will fine you.”

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary reported that during a two-hour period on Tuesday night, five brush fires were spotted in downtown St. John’s, all of them within a few blocks of each other. No one was injured and the fires were quickly extinguished.

Police believe one person is responsible. Investigators are asking for the public’s help as they continue their investigation. Those caught violating a provincewide fire ban could face a fine ranging from $50,000 to $150,000.

In Lower Island Cove, north of the Kingston fire, the owner of The Mess Tent Poutinerie, Christine McNeil, has been making about 150 meals a day for the 300 firefighters in the area.

The 61-year-old was a first responder with the Canadian Armed Forces, and she spent many years posted to the Royal Canadian Navy supply ship HMCS Preserver, which was retired in 2016. Everyone on board was trained in firefighting, she said.

“This is absolutely killing me, that I can’t be up there, that I’m not in the mix,” McNeil said in a telephone interview from her restaurant. “Providing meals is best I can do for them. And I’ll do that until they kick me out.”

At an evacuation centre in Carbonear, N.L., south of the Kingston fire, evacuee Gerry Rogers said that on Aug. 3, the wind-driven fire forced her from the home she shares with her partner in Blackhead, N.L. “They’re telling us that it’s really bad,” Rogers said Tuesday in an interview, adding that the wind had made firefighting on the ground almost impossible.

“The winds were so strong that nothing they did was effective. There was nothing that could be done to suppress the fire at the time.”

As for her home, Rogers said recent satellite photos clearly show that the ground around Blackhead and the surrounding area has been left badly scorched, indicating there’s not much left standing.

“We built a fabulous passive house that’s on the edge of the world, right on the water,” she said. “And we moved into it in November …. Now we’re thinking that it’s possible that the house is gone.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2025.

— With files from Michael MacDonald in Halifax and Brieanna Charlebois in Vancouver

Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press