Firefighters have contained 35 per cent of the wildfire that started last Sunday near Saint Andrews, Roger Collet, a wildfire prevention officer with the Department of Natural Resources, said Friday afternoon.
But considering the rough terrain in the area, they might never reach 100 per cent contained, Collet said.
“It may be that we got enough rain to knock it down to a point where we could say it’s, you know, contained or even under control,” he said. “That’s what we’re probably going to have to wait for.”
He said while the weather forecast is calling for rain, there needs to be a lot of rain to get things to a point “where we feel real comfortable.”
Much of New Brunswick is expected to see showers over the weekend and lower temperatures than the last two days, according to Environment Canada’s weather forecast. Overnight Friday into Saturday, most places in the province will see low single-digits.
Still, the provincewide burn ban is continuing, at least for the weekend, said Collet.
As of Friday, he said, about 55 firefighters were on scene in the Bocabec area, including staff managing the fire. He said firefighters are still working on hotspots around the edges of the forest where there are homes and are less concerned with the hotspots deep in the middle.
“We’re going to probably downsize as the weekend goes on,” Collet said. “And then eventually, we’ll just hand it over to just the district itself in St. George, and they’ll be able to look after it.”
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There is also a helicopter in the area that is available to drop water with buckets in case of any flareups. But Collet said it was mainly being used on Friday to get people to some of the harder-to-reach areas.
New Brunswick water bombers are still assisting with Nova Scotia’s wildfires but were to be brought back in the afternoon because of cloudy conditions.
A mobile tanker was also set up Friday in Nova Scotia for the water bombers, so they didn’t have to keep returning to New Brunswick to refill.
Collet said the department is looking at sending crews and staff to assist in the on-the-ground efforts in Nova Scotia.
This story was originally published in CBC News on June 2, 2023.
Hannah Rudderham Portfolio 