More than 16,000 people were forced to flee their homes in Nova Scotia, eastern Canada, after one of the many wildfires raging across the country threatened the city of Halifax, authorities said.
The as-yet-uncontacted fire in the city’s northwest has not spread since a state of emergency was declared Sunday night, leaving surrounding residents on high alert, ready to leave their homes at any moment. .
“We really thought we were going to die,” Marian and Peter Gillespie, a couple who were trapped in the flames, told CBC public radio, with “ash and sparks falling on the car” as they fled the fire.
“It was surreal to drive through burning vehicles and houses,” a volunteer firefighter told Radio-Canada.
Television channels broadcast images of columns of smoke and houses and vehicles reduced to ashes, but no injuries were recorded.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston described a province “under stress” while Halifax Mayor Mike Savage spoke of an “unprecedented” fire.
“We did not widen the perimeter [da zona de evacuação] since yesterday, which gives hope that the situation has stabilized,” he added at a press conference, stressing that “it continues to be dangerous.”
As of Monday, wildfires were raging in eight of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories.
In recent years, western Canada has been repeatedly affected by extreme weather events, the intensity and frequency of which have increased with global warming.
Source: TSF
