“It appeared like one thing out of a nightmare.” ({Photograph} by the Canadian Press/HO, Communications Nova Scotia.)
In his eight years as a volunteer firefighter, station captain Cole Jean had by no means seen a blaze like this earlier than. It began within the late afternoon of Could 28 with a name to his station in Higher Tantallon, Nova Scotia, reporting a brush hearth within the close by Westwood Hills subdivision, half-hour from Halifax. It took seven days to regulate the hearth, which burned throughout the Tantallon and Hammonds Plains communities, forcing the evacuation of over 16,000 folks and laying waste to roughly 200 constructions and 150 properties.
Jean was one of many first responders on the scene in Westwood Hills. For the primary three days, he labored 13-to-19-hour shifts as a firefighter, sleeping as little as two hours at a time to assist comprise the flames and evacuate residents. On the fourth day, he got here again as a paramedic—that’s his day job—to arrange a rehab plan for exhausted and dehydrated firefighters (temperatures had spiked to round 36 levels). Right here, Jean revisits scenes from the entrance strains he’ll always remember: the hearth that consumed his municipality, the aid help that poured in from all corners of Canada, and the neighborhood that endured.
Describe what occurred on the day of the hearth.
The decision initially got here in round 3:30 p.m. as a brush hearth. There weren’t actually another particulars. My crew obtained into the truck, and I appeared on the name notes and noticed that it had become a construction hearth. We went lights, we went sirens, and I keep in mind developing the hill towards the scene, the place I might already see slightly little bit of smoke. But it surely was nonetheless distant and really windy. We took the ultimate flip towards the tackle of the hearth, after which I might lastly see the total extent of what had occurred. A big part of woods was already on hearth. One home was fully engulfed in flames, and large quantities of black and gray smoke stuffed the sky. Teams of individuals have been congregating, folks have been screaming for assist, folks have been working round. It was then we really realized what we’d stumbled upon.
Within the midst of all of the chaos, what do you do subsequent?
We began attempting to struggle this fireplace. I deployed firefighters to seize strains, get hoses off the truck and shield the homes that we might. I ran down a personal lane to determine if there have been nonetheless folks the place the hearth had began. On the similar time, I referred to as for extra assets as a result of I knew what we had wasn’t going to be sufficient. In our division, once we fight a construction hearth, we name it a first-alarm hearth. If you improve this alarm, you begin going right into a second- or third- or fourth- or fifth-alarm hearth, which indicators the necessity for extra assets. I stored elevating the alarm till we went from first to fourth. That’s fairly unprecedented, particularly in a rural setting the place you don’t have massive house buildings.
However the hearth was travelling extraordinarily quick as a result of it’s been dry right here for weeks, and it was a really windy day. It simply stored going and transferring and rising in dimension, and it was at that time I spotted I wanted to start out evacuating properties—civilians wanted to get out of there. Then I ran out to the primary road and noticed one thing I’ll always remember: the wind blew, and I watched as the hearth swept proper throughout the highway and into the timber on the opposite facet.
How did this fireplace evaluate to what you’ve seen in earlier years?
I don’t have something to match it to. In my reminiscence, and within the reminiscence of most individuals right here, we’ve by no means had an incident on this massive of a scale.
What occurred in the course of the evacuation course of?
A number of RCMP officers arrived, together with help from Emergency Well being Providers, the Division of Pure Assets and Renewables and Nova Scotia Energy. The RCMP workforce shortly began their protocol for organizing an evacuation. Within the meantime, there have been a few volunteer firefighters who have been reduce off from us as a result of they have been behind the flames on the highway. I shouted directions to them. Then they went up and down the road to the place the hearth was prevalent and began knocking on doorways to inform folks to seize what they may and get of their automobiles.
Then the hearth on the highway died down a bit, and the RCMP was in a position to drive by means of it and ship extra folks to the opposite facet. At this level, different hearth vehicles arrived. I despatched them over to assist shield the highway and the homes as we obtained folks out of them, and the emergency administration group for Halifax Regional Municipality put out a public alert on folks’s cellphones to inform everyone within the Westwood Hills subdivision to evacuate.
How lengthy have been you on the scene for?
I used to be on the scene for 3 days as a volunteer firefighter. After the primary day, I left at 4 a.m. and got here again at 6:30 a.m. It appeared like one thing out of a nightmare. At that time, there had been a mass evacuation of the close by areas in a single day. The nearer you bought to Tantallon, the greyer and darker it obtained. The plumes of smoke have been so massive, they virtually appeared like fog, and hearth engines, tanker vehicles and lightweight rescue automobiles surrounded the world. I might see the hearth, which was nonetheless uncontrolled and rising.
What was the technique to comprise the wildfire?
With most fires, we’ve got a saying: you set the moist stuff on the new stuff. However whenever you discuss forest fires, they’re so scorching and transfer so quick that utilizing water doesn’t all the time work. We’ve got a mutual-aid settlement with the Division of Nationwide Defence’s hearth division, in order that they introduced out these brush vehicles that spray foam onto the hearth. As the times progressed, we additionally obtained heavy equipment, like bulldozers and excavators, from the Division of Pure Assets and Renewables. These machines went into the woods and bulldozed a five-metre hole between timber to make it more durable for the hearth to develop. And we had aerial assets too—a number of helicopters with buckets scooping up water from the lake or the ocean and dropping it onto the hearth, and a firefighting aircraft from Newfoundland doing the identical.
Once I got here again on Wednesday, I labored as an incident commander for the medical facet of issues till Saturday evening. We helped firefighters who had blisters, however we have been lucky that we didn’t have another medical points to deal with. We targeted on making ready for Thursday, which was going to be the toughest as a result of it was the most well liked, with temperatures climbing towards 36 levels, and a number of wind. So we arrange an entire rehab plan to assist firefighters cool off and get an opportunity to chill out earlier than that they had to return into it once more.
The wildfire wasn’t declared to be underneath management till June 4. How did you cope with the exhaustion after working such lengthy hours?
There was a number of adrenaline. Purple Bull and occasional are additionally nice mates. But it surely was simply that want to be there and assist that basically stored me going.
Is that want a part of the rationale you grew to become a volunteer firefighter?
I needed to serve and shield the neighborhood. My prolonged household has a historical past of serving within the army, and I began my profession within the Canadian Coast Guard. Once I left to develop into a paramedic, I additionally joined the hearth division as a result of it was a option to hold serving, and that’s one thing I’ve all the time needed, and all the time cherished, to do.
Our hearth station has 4 profession firefighters, who’re paid and work Monday to Friday, from 7 a.m. to five:30 p.m. For incidents throughout and out of doors of these hours, we additionally depend on our 24 volunteer firefighters to reply calls. We’re lucky in Tantallon as a result of we’ve got a big inhabitants, so it’s simpler to recruit extra volunteers. However there’s nonetheless a scarcity, particularly in rural areas with decrease populations or older populations, and in case you lack volunteers, it’ll be more durable to get a hearth underneath management as quick as attainable.
It’s been virtually two weeks for the reason that wildfire broke out. What does your city seem like now?
There are locations that you simply acknowledge as a result of they’re unaffected. Wildfires with wind will be very random, so there are areas the place a home is standing however each its neighbours are gone. However I additionally keep in mind these lovely inexperienced timber that I used to drive by, and now they’re black, from treetop to floor.
How has your neighborhood responded to the devastation? How have you ever?
There are such a lot of individuals who haven’t been in a position to go house after the evacuation order, myself included. After we evacuated the world the place I dwell in Higher Tantallon, I couldn’t return to pack up as a result of I used to be wanted on the scene, so a member of the family grabbed a change of garments for me. I’m staying with some household close by, and different evacuees live with relations or mates, or staying in neighborhood centres and lodges, which have offered reductions or free lodging. We even have folks from outdoors of our municipality providing evacuees locations to remain.
The help proven for one another was above and past something I might have ever hoped for. I’m by no means going to overlook the quantity of camaraderie we had from firefighters who weren’t a part of our province—even volunteers from P.E.I. confirmed as much as assist. The donations of meals and drinks and provides have been wonderful, and the thank yous from the general public haven’t stopped. Gosh, the quantity of pizzas that have been donated by small companies numbered as much as 200, I feel. After this occasion, we’re all beginning to attempt to heal.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
