Water bomber called in to fight brush fire in subdivision of St. John’s
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Mohamed Ravalia thought his neighbours were out barbecuing on one of the first sunny summer days in St. John’s when he caught the scent of smoke in the air early Monday afternoon.
Then he heard sirens, and looked outside to see flames shooting upwards behind the homes across the street in the heavily populated subdivision.
“For a moment, I couldn’t see through the smoke and I actually thought one of the houses was on fire,” Ravalia recalled, comparing the sight to images from Fort McMurray wildfires in 2016.
“You wouldn’t think this would happen in good old Newfoundland,” Ravalia joked, watering the grass outside his home on Orlando Street, where he and other residents were ordered to leave for a few hours as the fire department battled the wind and the heat as a forest fire encroached on the residential area.