In Conception Bay North, a town is on edge after rash of wildfires

At nearly 10 p.m. on Thursday, Susan Rose and Fay Short were busy making cold cut sandwiches with mayonnaise and white bread, in the kitchen of the old Adam's Cove school.

The snacks were for fire and forestry crews, who were busy fighting a wildfire that broke out in Small Point, which is part of the town of Small Point-Adam's Cove-Blackhead-Broad Cove in Conception Bay North.

"A lot of us won't be sleeping tonight, I can guarantee you that," Rose said Thursday evening.

Only one shed was lost in the fire and no homes were destroyed, although it's still being monitored by forestry crews and is classified on the provincial wildfire dashboard as out of control.

Thursday was the second time within the past two months a wildfire broke out in the area. The last wildfire in May ravaged the community of Adam's Cove, forcing residents to evacuate and destroying 12 homes and 45 other structures.

Rose says she was out for a swim Thursday afternoon when she began to smell smoke, a scent she's starting to know well.

Residents say there have also been a handful of other smaller fires in the community that fortunately didn't turn into something bigger.

They are now suspicious about the causes of these fires, and want answers.

"I chose to live in this beautiful, peaceful town that has been completely turned upside down," said resident Wanda Crocker, who has lived full-time in the area for around two decades.

"I talked to a father today who says 'My child, who's six years old, who is completely freaked out, crying, because she hears the sirens again.'"

'We have a problem'

In an emailed statement to CBC News Friday afternoon, the RCMP said Thursday's fire is under investigation in co-operation with the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture. 

The force also pointed to a news release it put out on June 10, which states that the Harbour Grace RCMP is investigating a series of brush fires in the Adam's Cove area and is asking the public for information.

It says a fire on June 6 was not reported to police and did not result in significant damage. It also says officers responded to brush fires in Adam's Cove before and after the May wildfire. 

As for the source of the fires, RCMP says in the news release that "there is currently no evidence to suggest that any of these fires were intentionally set, however, the source of each incident remains under investigation."

But Crocker has other suspicions.

"I'm gonna come out and say it — I feel like we have an arsonist in this town and it needs to be investigated," she said Thursday evening. 

"We have a problem."

Small Point-Broad Cove-Blackhead-Adam's Cove Mayor Curtis Delaney also says there's a strong assumption the fires are being caused by humans.

Robert Hudson, who has lived in the community for most of his life, almost lost his home in the May wildfire, with flames eating up a lot of the gardens and trees in his backyard.

He said there has always been the occasional bush fire in the area, but nothing close to the number of fires the town has seen this spring and summer.

He and other residents, including Delaney, estimate there have been around seven or eight fires in the past few months.

Hudson says all of the fires seem to be popping up along or near the town's trail system, and that they have been located very close together, with only a handful of kilometres separating them.

People in the community want the police to do a thorough investigation of the area, and come back to the town council with their reports, said Hudson. For now, many people in the town are living in fear, anticipating when they'll next hear the fire sirens.

"Luckily, only for the fire department and their rapid response, do I have a house to live in today," said Hudson.

"And I think that at any point in time we have another fire, I really don't know when it's gonna come and affect us all again. And so every time there's a fire, where there's smoke, we're all uptight."

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