HALIFAX—When Laurie Landry woke up and looked out the window yesterday, she was greeted by a sky filled with billowing clouds of grey smoke. Ms. Landry, who hails from Mindemoya, is visiting her son Jonathan in Nova Scotia, something she does about twice a year. This year will prove to be among the more memorable of visits as a few moments after looking out the window of her son’s home the provincial emergency alert began sounding on their cellphones.
“We were out the door within 15 minutes,” she said. “There wasn’t any time to waste as the fire was very close.”
Ms. Landry joined over 14,000 people who were evacuated in Nova Scotia as raging forest fires swept across the province. At last estimates, some 200-plus buildings have been damaged and the fires are far from contained. In fact, with strong winds and no rain relief in sight in the near future, that tally of destruction will undoubtedly rise dramatically in the days to come.
Ms. Landry and her son gathered up Jon’s pet dog Foxy, packed what essentials they could gather in the short time available and set out for the nearest community of Hammond Plains.
“We wound up travelling down a bush road, well, you couldn’t even really call it a road, the car was bottoming out all the time,” she said. “We were directed down there as the main Route Hammond’s Road was packed. Normally, there is a chain across the trail to keep out the ATVs, but somebody, I’m guessing an emergency worker, had cut the chain.”
Everyone was tense given the emergency situation, but Foxy was especially anxious. “We were all bouncing around inside the car and we couldn’t open the windows because of the thick smoke. It was really jarring.”
The refugees arrived at the nearest hamlet, Hammond’s Plains, but that community is too small to have much in the way of emergency shelter.
The Red Cross has put in place emergency accommodation at Halifax’s Canada Games Centre and Ms. Landry spent the night, like hundreds of other refugees, sleeping on a cot. Foxy had other arrangements in another area of the sports complex. “Pets couldn’t stay with their owners,” explained Ms. Landry. “Some people are afraid of dogs, and a few are allergic.”
When it comes to hospitality, however, it’s hard to top Canada’s East Coast.
“People have been amazing,” said Ms. Landry. “The Red Cross is helping out people with all kinds of food, clothing and other necessities.”
Foxy is also being kept comfortable. “Foxy is in another area with kennels and there are toys and a couple of people looking after them, feeding them and taking them for walks.”
The hardest part of the ordeal at this point for Ms. Landry and her son is not knowing the status of his house. Given the rapidity of the blaze’s spread and the dense smoke that enveloped them as they left the area, their anxiety is not at all unfounded.
The Expositor will be following up on developments and observations of Islanders in the area over the next several days.
