Crews monitoring forest fire in Murray River, hope to reopen road before dark

Hours after provincial officials said the Fire Weather Index had reached extreme or very high levels across Prince Edward Island, a forest fire broke out near Murray River Friday afternoon. 

Provincial Deputy Fire Marshal Robert Arsenault said there were still "a lot of smouldering stumps and fine tinder on the forest floor" as of about 7 p.m. Friday evening.

Arsenault said his team had yet to be able to go into the woods to survey the full extent of the damage but they have been able to evaluate the fire with a drone.

He said crews were bulldozing a road through the trees to contain the fire further and push it back "to the area of origin."

"It will be a case of applying water to hot spots once we get access, but at the same time maintaining the safety of the men and women that are in there fighting the fire," Arsenault said of the evening ahead.

RCMP posted a tweet telling drivers "to use alternate routes while a forest fire is being contained" along Route 17 about one kilometre east of Route 4.

The road is being blocked off now between Point Pleasant and Murray River to let crews deal with the fire, the RCMP tweet said.

Arsenault said the hope is to get it cleared and reopened before dark.

Call comes in

RCMP Const. Robert Honkoop said the call came in around 3:30 p.m Friday. 

He said the Murray River fire department and several others responded to the fire and there were no injuries to report.

Honkoop told CBC News that no evacuations were happening as of 6 p.m. AT, but that could change.

The wind was blowing the smoke away from nearby homes at that point, but Honkoop said the wind direction had changed twice since the blaze started and could shift again.

"It is somewhat contained right now. The wind is co-operating at the moment," he said.

Crews had extinguished a big portion of the fire, he said, but local residents were being asked to stay away from the scene.

"When we first arrived on scene the smoke was pretty dense and intense. At this moment it is not as intense as it was. There is no active flames currently within the trees," he said.

I think it is going to be pretty much a sleepless night.— Virginia Winter, local resident

Virginia Winter has a home on Point Pleasant Road near the fire. She was headed home around 4 p.m. when she heard fire trucks.

"I could see they were collected right up the street from me," she said.

"As I was approaching you could hear the roar of the fire, you could feel it right on your face. It was so intense."

Winter said she saw a lot of smoke in the air.

"Our biggest fear is that the wind is going to carry it through the woods. We are all back here in the woods," she said.

"The lady whose house is right next to the woods where it is burning, they've got water on her place."

Winter said she went to check if she would have to evacuate and at that point she said the fire had crossed the road.

"I think it is going to be pretty much a sleepless night," Winter said. 

Honkoop said the fire did cross Route 17 southbound.

"It created some concern with approximately 12 to 20 houses," he said.

Index reaches extreme level

Word of the fire came just hours after officials suspended all domestic and industrial burning permits, saying the Fire Weather Index had reached extreme or very high levels across Prince Edward Island.

"We've had significant periods of drought, we haven't had a lot of rain and combine that with, sort of, the heat we are getting and the wind," said Mike Montigny, fire services manager with the province's forests, fish and wildlife division.

"The wind is playing a big factor in pushing our fire weather index up."

He said permits have been suspended because wind speeds must be low and the fire index needs to be moderate or lower for them to be valid.

Gusty winds can contribute to the intensity of a fire and cause the potential for serious wildfires across the province, Montigny said.

Small campfires are still being permitted, said Montigny, but people starting such campfires on their own land will be responsible for "any and all suppression and damage costs."

"I would encourage everyone if they do light up recreation fire, make sure the fire is out," he said. "If you are not willing to touch it and if it still hot when you touch, it is still not out."

Cottage renters and people in campgrounds should have the property owners' permission before starting small fires, a provincial government release says. 

Province seeing drought conditions

Agriculture Canada's drought monitoring map, last updated for June 2020, was listing the eastern third of the Island at "abnormally dry" and the rest of the province with "moderate drought" conditions.

What rain has fallen since the end of June has been heavy in some places while completely missing other regions of P.E.I.

Montigny said because of that, the fire index is likely to stay high throughout the weekend.

He said he has worked in fire services on the Island for a decade.

"The drought code we have is higher than I have ever seen it on Prince Edward Island this year… a situation that I haven't seen since I started working in fire in Prince Edward Island here. It is very, very dry this year."

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