Council eyes 2nd exit for Upper Tantallon neighbourhood where wildfire began
Wildfire strategy also in the works for Halifax Regional Municipality
Halifax is looking at building a second exit for the Upper Tantallon neighbourhood where a disastrous wildfire began, as many residents in that community are dealing with damaged or destroyed homes.
On Tuesday evening, regional council passed Coun. Pam Lovelace's request to have staff investigate how to build a back exit for Westwood Hills off Hammonds Plains Road — roughly 25 kilometres outside Halifax.
"It is extremely important for the security and safety and the well-being of those residents," Lovelace, the councillor for that area, said during the meeting.
The Upper Tantallon neighbourhood falls in the "area of significant impact," and was still under an evacuation order Wednesday morning.
Westwood Hills has two parallel roads at the sound end of the neighbourhood that connect to Hammonds Plains Road, but no way out in the north — where people were hardest hit.
The issue of another emergency exit has been raised by Westwood Hills residents for "many, many years," Lovelace said, but it's been difficult to change, as there are multiple landowners at the back end of the subdivision.
Lovelace said city staff will now have to work with landowners including the province, private citizens and Nova Scotia Power to figure out a solution.
"This is evidence now — we have demonstrated to all of those landowners that it is extremely important to have egress, and so we just need to work together and get it done," Lovelace said.
Dustin O'Leary, president of the Westwood Hills Residents Association, was able to grab clothes, his dog and his neighbours' pet when the fire began. But he said those deeper into the back of the subdivision had a "harrowing" experience trying to escape.
"They need peace of mind. They need to know that if we ever encountered the same thing again ... that they have a better sense of how they should get out of the subdivision and that it's closer to where they live," O'Leary said Wednesday.
O'Leary said he's seen the community grow dramatically over the years, but the "safety of the neighborhood hasn't necessarily continued to grow." The subdivision now has more than 770 homes, O'Leary said, with development continuing.
Although Westwood did have an evacuation plan, O'Leary said everything happened too quickly to organize it. Instead, neighbours went door to door to make sure everyone was getting out safely.
"It's again unfortunate that it takes an event like this to make the action happen," O'Leary said about council's move for a new exit.
"However, we just want the solution. So let's figure out how we get that done, and then I'm sure there is a lot of lessons that are going to be learned from this."
The city has started construction on two emergency exits for other areas impacted by the fire — in Haliburton Hills and Highland Park — since the municipality owns that land.
The wildfire started on May 28 and destroyed 150 homes in Upper Tantallon and Hammonds Plains.
Many councillors said Tuesday that the fire has opened their eyes to similar vulnerable areas in their own districts.
Beaver Bank Coun. Lisa Blackburn said there are multiple subdivisions off Beaver Bank Road that are at risk.
Coun. Paul Russell of Lower Sackville said 200 homes on Hallmark Avenue only have one way in, while others off Sackville Drive already have issues getting out during expected events like parades or construction.
"If we have something like we have had over the past week — we're in trouble," Russell said.
Lovelace said a tragic event like the wildfire is the reason why she asked for a staff report in January 2021 about creating community connector roads for municipal neighbourhoods "restricted by limited emergency access routes."
That report is due back in December.
Multiple councillors raised the idea of looking at the issue through a wider lens to examine how Halifax should be adapting to climate change events like flooding and wildfires, and what could be learned from the Tantallon emergency.
CAO Cathie O'Toole said the city's new community safety department already has plans to work on Halifax evacuation routes and strategies, while Halifax Fire has a wildfire strategy underway for this year which would look at risk reduction.
O'Toole also said after the local state of emergency is lifted, there will be a review of the incident with lessons learned brought back to councillors, and frequently asked questions will be posted on the city website under the wildfire page.
