Major highway reopens to cut-off Newfoundland communities, as forest fires continue to rage

A major highway connecting several small communities in the southern part of Newfoundland has reopened, the provincial government said midday Tuesday.

The highway has been closed for days amid a persistent wildfire that's kept more than 20,000 people under a state of emergency since Saturday.

The Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture said in a tweet that the Bay d'Espoir Highway is open, and asked the public to "drive slowly and don't stop. Please have patience and be safe."

Meanwhile, the province's provincial forest fire duty officer is looking to the forecast for rain Tuesday, after one of two raging forest fires near Grand Falls-Windsor grew overnight by more than 50 per cent. 

Jeff Motty said the size of the Paradise Lake fire, located in a forested area of central Newfoundland, is estimated at 10,337 hectares, or 100 square kilometres — more than three times the size of Bell Island and as large as Gander's town boundaries.

It's grown from 6,614 hectares on Monday.

Even though water bombers were on the scene all day Monday, the size of the blaze prevented firefighting crews from tackling the fire directly.

"We really got to get the crews on that fire soon," Motty told CBC News on Tuesday.

"If we can get a lot of water bomber activity on that, what happens then is we're able to get on an edge or a plank of that fire's perimeter, where it's safe to do so with crews, and we can start putting out hose lines out and start containing that fire," he said. 

"But we're not quite ready to do so yet. That fire is so huge that it's going to take a lot time to tidy up that site."

Winds at Paradise Lake shifted north Monday, allowing water bombers to be on the site for much longer than in  previous days, Motty said. 

Out-of-control fires have been burning now for more than two weeks, a result of abnormally hot and dry weather for the province.

Premier Andrew Furey issued a state of emergency for some communities over the weekend, including Grand Falls-Windsor, Bishop's Falls and Botwood. The order affects more than 20,000 people.

Furey asked those residents to be on high alert for an evacuation order, and suggested those with lung conditions such as asthma may want to leave in advance of any potential for heavy smoke. Public Safety Canada said in a tweet Monday that anyone preparing to evacuate should ensure they have enough fuel in their vehicle and have an emergency kit ready.