A provincial fire crew is on the scene of a small but intense forest fire in Carbonear. Jeff Motty, provincial forest fire officer, told CBC News shortly after 7 pm that the fire was first reported late Tuesday afternoon. The fire is burning behind businesses at the corner of Columbus Drive and Fox Farm Road in the community. Motty says those businesses – a Canadian Tire and a Dairy Queen – are not of immediate concern, but there are a few homes in the area. “There are homes in the distance that we’re trying to protect. We’re doing some structure protection, putting some foam lines in there to help protect the forest and protect the homes as well,” he said. “We really want to destroy it and put it out as best we can. We’ve got quite a few fires going on the island right now, we just want to do our best to put it to bed as quickly as possible.” Motty said the initial report from Carbonear was that the fire had consumed about 30 meters by 100 meters of space, or about 0.3 of a hectare. He said flames could be seen coming from the tops of the trees, showing the intensity of the fire. “This is an example of more extreme fire behavior than, say, a ground fire, so it’s certainly a concern of ours,” Motty said. Two crewmen were deployed from Heart’s Desire and a waterbomber from Gander is flying missions. “With the proximity to the city, it could be a man-made fire. But if they had lightning in the area, it could also be a natural cause fire,” Motty said. “It’s really too early to tell.”

The Bay D’Espoir Freeway was closed again

Meanwhile, the fire burning near the Bay D’Espoir highway has flared up again. The fire started on July 24 and has been burning the area ever since, causing closures and disruptions for travelers navigating the roadway. Moti said the fire worsened on Tuesday afternoon. So far, it has affected over 1,000 hectares of land. “Around 1pm today the fire behavior changed at the Bay D’Espoir location and we saw some of the edges light up. The winds picked up at that location as well and really got the fire going,” Motty said. The highway is closed again Tuesday afternoon with fire crews returning to the scene Wednesday morning. Motty said a further evaluation is expected around 8:30 a.m “We’ve had very hot and dry weather, so any rain we get really doesn’t wet the ground enough,” he said. Read more articles from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador