Crews are expected to resume fighting an out of control wildfire today that broke out in Cape Breton’s Richmond County on Thursday.
The blaze started around 5 p.m. AT on Three Rivers Road in Framboise, about 66 kilometres southwest of Sydney, according to a news release from the Municipality of the County of Richmond.
The fire has grown to 15 hectares and has crossed at least one roadway, the release said.
There are currently no evacuation orders in place, but residents are being asked to remain vigilant.
One old trailer, vacant for over 20 years, has been lost in the blaze. A residence has been soaked down as a precaution and another has a sprinkler system set up.
Multiple volunteer fire departments were on site early Thursday evening, but no containment was achieved. Ground crews focused on extinguishing the blaze and saturating surrounding areas to reduce the risk of the wildfire spreading.
Most of those crews left for the night, but were prepared to return if conditions worsened. Crews from the provincial Natural Resources Department were expected to resume operations Friday morning.
Lois Landry, warden for the Municipality of the County of Richmond, said the area is quite rural and sparsely populated. She said cell service is not good, which is a concern when trying to communicate with emergency crews on the ground.
“There’s efforts afoot to try to improve that but it’s times like this really where that lack of service is really significant,” said Landry in an interview Friday morning.
The province issued a fire ban for most of Nova Scotia on Thursday following several days of warm, sunny weather. There was a little reprieve from hot and dry conditions as rain fell overnight into Friday.
