Humidity helping crews as Yarmouth County wildfire continues to burn

Crews were making progress battling a wildfire burning in a remote area of Nova Scotia's Yarmouth County on Thursday as summer-like temperatures were recorded across the province, said officials with the Department of Natural Resources.

Kara McCurdy, a wildfire prevention officer, said the fire wasmoving southwest from South Horseshoe Lake toward the small community of Quinan, but it was still about five kilometres away and there was no risk to any homes or other infrastructure.

Quinan is located about 27 kilometres northeast of Yarmouth, where the temperature was estimated to hit 26 C on Thursday.

Twohelicopters, a CL-415 water bomber from Newfoundland and Labrador, and 40 firefighterswere battling the fire, which began Monday.As of Thursday, it wasestimated to be just over 3,100 hectares about the same size as a day earlier.

"We're feeling pretty good this morning about this one," Scott Tingley, manager of forest protection, told CBC Radio's Maritime Noon.

"It moved fast, it covered a lot of area,but it's not digging in deep,and this fire is certainly our primary concern at the moment in the province."

The humidity was helping crews, despite warm temperatures and a light breeze.

"Any time there is a fire burning, the weather can do some strange things, but we're very confident that we're able to hold this fire and it won't flare up to threaten the community," Paul Schnurr, the incident commander with the department, said Thursday afternoon.

An incident command centre was set up in Tusket, about 32 kilometres west of the fire, as crews continuedto work.

Schnurr saidthe water bomber was critical in slowing the fire's spreadand crews had begun toextinguish hot spots in the field.

"It's a good day to work on this fire. It's not moving. It's less intense so we can get a lot of work done," he said. "But because of the nature of this fire, where everything wasn't cleanly burned, it has a high potential to reignite, so we want to make sure we secure the edge really well."

McCurdy said the fire was about 10 per cent contained and there was less smoke in the air, prompting Environment Canada to lift several air quality alerts issued earlier in the week for southwestern Nova Scotia.

But McCurdywarned the warmer spring weather could still cause the fire to grow in the coming days.

"It would probably grow slightly not significantly at this point given what the weather is like so it will all depend really on the weather for the next couple of days," she said.

CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon said humidity was expected to drop Thursday afternoon but winds would remain light.

He said more sun was expected forFriday and Saturday, with afternoon humidity near 50 per cent and the wind picking up slightly, gusting 20-30 km/hboth days.

However, the area could be getting some relief in the form of light rain and drizzleSunday.

McCurdysaid she washopeful the 10-15 millimetres of rain wouldhelp crews get control of the fire.

"We'll get it under control, probably ... in the next couple of days, but to actually have it completely suppressed, I know it's going to be weeks and weeks," she said.

Tingley said no additional equipment or personnel werecalled in Thursday, though extra air and groundsupports from neighbouring provinceswereavailable if necessary.

"We feel ready to deal with anything that might take a run on us," he said.

In the meantime, Tingly reminded Nova Scotians to check daily burn restrictions to prevent further fires.

There are burn restrictions in the counties of Queens, Shelburne and Yarmouth.

"We certainly want to avoid all new startsif possible, so we're just urging everyone to be cautious out there in the woods," he said.