Evacuated Canadians Return Home Post-Wildfire

Thousands of people ordered from their homes in the face of a raging wildfire in a remote corner of eastern Canada can return home this week as the risk to their community diminished, authorities said over the weekend.

About 9,600 residents of Labrador City in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador had to evacuate on the evening of July 12 after a wildfire burned out of control, expanding 16-fold in a day.

Many of them drove for hours in a slow procession, with about 3,000 staying temporarily in the 7,000-person town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, the nearest community with requisite resources, about 500 km away.

At first, only essential workers and their families could return, the provincial government said, including people working with the local health center, the municipal government, the grocery store and the mining company Rio Tinto.

The evacuation order was officially lifted for all residents at midday.

Meanwhile a brush fire erupted on the north end of Homeland, quickly charring three acres and forcing the closure of a road.

The non-injury “Juniper Fire” was reported at 5 p.m. in the area of Juniper Flats and Mapes roads, just north of Highway 74, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.

According to the agency, crews encountered flames moving rapidly through medium vegetation to the east.

The fire reached Juniper Flats, causing spot fires across the two-lane road, which the California Highway Patrol immediately shut down from the highway going north.

Two Cal Fire air tankers from Hemet-Ryan Airport less than 10 miles away were summoned to make runs on the brusher.

A battalion chief at the scene said the blaze, if unchecked, could spread to 500 acres across open fields.

There was no immediate word regarding how the brusher started.