The toll taken by Halifax wildfire hits home for some of it residents

An estimated 14,000 people told to flee blaze, deputy chief says

As firefighters spent a second day battling a wildfire in suburban Halifax, some residents from evacuated subdivisions received the grim news that their homes were among those destroyed by the wind-driven flames.

Katherine Tarateski was one of them.

“The RCMP called me this morning to say they went to see our house and it was burned down and they couldn’t find the pets there,” she said in an interview Monday afternoon.

Tarateski said she was with her husband, Nick, and their young daughter Mia at a family gathering on Sunday when they heard about the approaching fires and rushed back to their home in Hammonds Plains to save their dog and cat. But, when they arrived, police had already blocked their street.

“The house can be rebuilt,” she said. “But my pets ... I’m just devastated. It’s hard.”

Fire officials said the out-of-control fire, which started Sunday in nearby Upper Tantallon, has destroyed or damaged dozens of homes, though there hadn’t been any reports of deaths or injuries.

Halifax deputy fire Chief David Meldrum said an estimated 14,000 people were told to flee their homes, most of which are about a 30-minute drive northwest of downtown Halifax.

“This is a big fire,” he told a news conference Monday near a command post in Upper Tantallon. By early afternoon, Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources confirmed the wildfire covered about eight square kilometres and the wind was gusting from the north up to 40 kilometres per hour, making its progress unpredictable.

David Steeves, a forest resources technician with Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources, said the fire was helped by a lack of rain and a wooded area thick with softwood trees, which provide a volatile fuel source. “It was perfect conditions for a fast, quick, dangerous fire,” Steeves said.

In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Public Safety Minister Bill Blair had spoken with his Nova Scotia counterparts on the weekend. “We’re going to be there for the people of Nova Scotia as they deal with these terrible wildfires,” Trudeau said.

Outside the Halifax region, there were seven other wildfires still burning, including the 62-squarekilometre Barrington Lake fire in Shelburne County. The fire in southwestern Nova Scotia remained out of control Monday.

“Some structures have been destroyed and others are threatened, but there are no firm details on the numbers yet,” the Department of Natural Resources said in a statement.

The RCMP called me this morning to say they went to see our house and it was burned down and they couldn’t find the pets there.

KATHERINE TARATESKI HALIFAX RESIDENT