HALIFAX, Canada (AP) – Thousands of people have been displaced by wildfires in the province of Nova Scotia on Canada’s Atlantic coast.
The Halifax city government reported Monday that about 200 homes or structures were damaged, according to preliminary estimates based on visual inspections by emergency responders.
Halifax Deputy Fire Chief David Meldrum said about 14,000 people had been ordered to leave their homes, which is located about a 30-minute drive northwest of downtown Halifax.
As firefighters battled a brush fire in suburban Halifax the other day, some residents of evicted subdivisions learned that their homes were among those destroyed by the fire. Catherine Taratsky told police that the flames completely destroyed her home and she could not find her pets.
Taratsky said she was at a family gathering with her husband Nick and daughter Mia on Sunday when she heard the fire and went home to Hammonds Plain to rescue her dog and cat. But by the time the family arrived, the police had sealed off the street they lived on.
“The house can be rebuilt,” he said. “But my pet… I’m devastated. It’s been tough”.
A fire that started Sunday in the Upper Tantallon community has destroyed or damaged dozens of homes, according to fire officials, although there were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries.
By the afternoon, the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources confirmed that the wildfire covered approximately 8 square kilometers (3 sq mi).
