Nearly 3,000 Newfoundland residents across Newfoundland and Labrador’s Bay de Verde peninsula have been asked to evacuate as four wildfires blaze across the province.Paul Daly/The Canadian Press
When her neighbours came knocking at her door last Monday afternoon telling her to evacuate, Barbara Watson was calm. Too calm. From her church-conversion house in Small Point-Adam’s Cove-Blackhead-Broad Cove, N.L., she could see smoke in the distance, yes, but assumed it was a little fire in the woods that would be easy to extinguish.
She grabbed her small cross-body bag, some freshly washed laundry and her asthma inhaler and headed to a friend’s place in Western Bay, a 10-minute drive away, assuming the evacuation order would be lifted in a day or two.
But by nightfall, she looked in the direction of her house and saw tall grapefruit-coloured plumes of smoke and the bright blaze of fire beneath them. Rumours circulated on Facebook about whose houses had been burned down and whose were still standing. An hour later, the evacuation order spread to residents across a swath of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Bay de Verde peninsula, including Western Bay. As the fire kept spreading, Ms. Watson and her friend kept moving. They didn’t go to sleep until 5 a.m.
On Thursday, while in an evacuation shelter, Ms. Watson came across a surreal photo on a community Facebook group showing her own house, reduced to grey rubble. A stranger had posted it.
Ms. Watson’s is one of many homes lost in the four wildfires blazing across the province. The largest fire originated in Kingston in the Conception Bay North area and had grown to nearly 50 square kilometres by Sunday, Premier John Hogan said in an evening press briefing. Almost 3,000 people are under an evacuation order.
Firefighters battling out of control wildfires in Newfoundland are facing windy and dry conditions as they await reinforcements to arrive from Quebec and Ontario. (Aug. 9, 2025).
The Canadian Press
The province’s four water bombers as well as five helicopters and a 50-person ground crew have been working to extinguish the Kingston fire. Aerial support has also been provided by crews from Quebec and New Brunswick. Ontario had initially promised two water bombers but then later held on to them to contend with their own fires.
Wildfires are burning across the country. In the last few days, heatwaves in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia have brought temperatures as high as 37 C. In the Maritimes, the risk for wildfires remains high because of persistent dry conditions. Nova Scotia has imposed a sweeping ban on activities in wooded areas, and provincewide burn bans are in effect in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, the latter of which has two out-of-control fires.
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While Mr. Hogan shared Sunday evening that one of this week’s fires in Holyrood has been classified as controlled, and another near Happy Valley-Goose Bay was extinguished, he struggled to find much optimism in the overall situation.
“You can’t fool yourself and think it’s going to be over tomorrow with the forecast, the heat, the lack of rain, certainly up until Thursday or Friday,” he said.
Many of the evacuees of the Kingston fire have taken shelter down the bay in Carbonear, the largest municipality in the Conception Bay North area.
Carbonear Mayor Frank Butt estimates about 1,000 evacuees have poured into his town of 5,000 in the last week, some sleeping at the evacuation shelter set up at a school, others taken in by community members who have offered up their couches and spare bedrooms.
On Sunday, the fire was heading north, away from Carbonear, but Mr. Butt said his community was bracing for the winds to change and spread the fire in their direction.
Evacuees have complained of delays in finding out the status of their homes. Some have watched their houses burn down through the livefeed from their doorbell or trail camera.
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Though Ms. Watson knew through the photo she saw that her house was gone on Monday, it wasn’t until Saturday that town officials confirmed it to her, which has slowed down the insurance claim process.
This past week, she’s bounced between a hotel and a friend’s home, and gone to the emergency shelter at a school in Carbonear for meals and company – though being around others in pain has been overwhelming. On Sunday morning, while eating breakfast, she watched a couple who had just learned their house had burned down dissolve into sobs beside her.
She often looks at the now-useless house key on her keychain, unable to absorb what’s been lost.
She had bought the church in 2017 and spent six years converting it into her dream residence: Stripping the ancient green carpet, repurposing the wood from the balcony pews to make stairs.
“To say that I was in love with my house would be a perfect description,” she said.
But more than the structure, she’s most devastated to have potentially lost her most precious possessions, which she believes were locked in the pantry: A hair clipping, photos and the autopsy report for her son Tyler, who died in 1987, the same year he was born.
“What can I do about this, other than letting it totally overwhelm me? Even the thought of losing my son’s things that I’ve kept with me. Things are just things, but not those things. Those are Tyler’s.”
With files from the Canadian Press