Cabins destroyed as wildfire near Chance Harbour doubles in size overnight

Maddie Ryan · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 15, 2025 9:05 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

A increasing wildfire that started Monday connected the Bonavista Peninsula has destroyed cabins, but the nonstop toll remains unknown.

An evacuation bid was issued for radical with cabins successful the country astir Chance Harbour's assets road, forcing radical to flee.

On Tuesday, provincial occurrence work serviceman Mark Lawlor said the fire is inactive retired of power and has grown to 1,200 hectares, making it the largest occurrence successful the province.

He can't corroborate however galore cabins person been mislaid yet.

Lawlor said the occurrence is moving northeast, distant from communities and toward the water. Still, he's expecting immoderate "extreme occurrence behaviour" again connected Tuesday owed to the blistery weather.

That means it's uncertain erstwhile radical volition beryllium capable to cheque connected their cabins successful the area.

"It looks beauteous good similar we're going to person 3 bully days … truthful I can't truly foretell [a instrumentality to their cabins]," Lawlor told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show.

Lawlor is asking radical to beryllium diligent truthful firefighters don't person to agelong their resources.

"We person a batch of fires present that are nether power wherever we're taking resources disconnected … truthful that we person radical disposable to respond to immoderate caller fires," said Lawlor.

The origin of the Chance Harbour occurrence is inactive nether investigation, according to Lawlor. 

WATCH | The CBC's Peter Cowan reports connected the latest arsenic of Tuesday morning:

The provincial wildfire dashboard is reporting 9 fires arsenic of Tuesday greeting — 2 of them retired of power — arsenic temperatures proceed to scope from the 20s to 30s.

Lawlor said resources are disposable to beryllium brought successful from different provinces similar New Brunswick, which provided Newfoundland and Labrador with a vertebrate canine plane.

In the meantime, Lawlor said morale is precocious and firefighters are acceptable to tackle the flames successful Chance Harbour and beyond.

He besides expects the provincewide occurrence prohibition to enactment successful spot arsenic agelong arsenic the adust upwind continues.

'It was conscionable consuming everything'

Ryan Pitts, who has lived successful the Chance Harbour country since childhood, said his parents were astatine a household member's compartment erstwhile the occurrence started connected Monday. The achromatic plumes successful the entity looked similar fog to them astatine first. 

On Monday nighttime Pitts told CBC News the clouds turned achromatic — his begetter declared that determination was a occurrence and reported it to the seashore guard.

After watching the flames from his location for immoderate time, Pitts took his vessel retired to the cabins adjacent Chance Harbour to spot if anyone needed help.

"By the clip I got retired there, it was conscionable consuming everything," helium said.

Pitts said helium got 1 past glimpse of his uncle's compartment earlier turning back, and it was either connected occurrence oregon the shed down it was.

The fume engulfed everything aft that, helium said.

"What tin you say? You're watching it each pain and there's thing you tin do."

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