Wildfires continue to cause major problems for Canadian curling’s off-season communities.
A wildfire in the capital region of Newfoundland & Labrador is now threatening the home neighborhood of Canada’s 2006 Olympic curling champions.
The City of St. John’s has issued an “immediate precautionary evacuation alert for the Galway and Southlands areas due to the wildfire near Paddy’s Pond.”
Southlands is the residential district where all the members of Team Brad Gushue, the 2006 Olympic men’s curling champions, have streets named after them.
Some team members currently live in the affected areas – though not on their namesake avenues – and have received the alert.
Homeowners on Brad Gushue Crescent, Mark Nichols Place, and Russ Howard and Jamie Korab Streets are among those warned to prepare for possible evacuation.
The same goes for streets named after coach Toby McDonald, alternate Mike Adam and the team itself – Gold Medal Drive.
A City of St. John’s map showing the latest evacuation alert area
A City of St. John’s map showing the latest evacuation alert area
The alert is a precursor to an actual evacuation call. If that call comes, residents must be ready to evacuate with very little notice. The alert also advises residents to “prepare to be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours” with regard to food, water, medications, important documents, batteries, portable radio and so on.
Between 13,000 to 15,000 people were under evacuation alert prior to the Galway and Southlands announcement.
Wildfire smoke has postponed several sports being contested at the Canada Games, which began in St. John’s last weekend.
Multiple areas of the island of Newfoundland are experiencing wildfire activity, as are other Atlantic Canadian provinces.
At time of publication, another fire had just sprouted up in Spaniard’s Bay, a 60-minute drive west of St. John’s.
There’s a highway, too
There’s a highway, too
Nova Scotia recently enacted an emergency law that banned fines residents from merely walking into wooded areas – or face a $25,000+ fine.
Last year, The Curling News declared that more and more curling communities will be threatened by wildfires in the coming months and years.
We spoke with curlers from Jasper, Alta. who were forced to evacuate.
The Jasper Curling Club was spared from damage although various structures, located just minutes away, were completely destroyed.
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