What makes the Halifax wildfire so unique

Nova Scotia is no stranger to wildfire, but the out-of-control blaze burning in suburban Halifax is unique in its aggressiveness, Glenn McGillivray, managing director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction told Canadian Underwriter Monday. 

As of Monday afternoon, an estimated 16,400 people were forced to flee their homes after the rapidly spreading fire broke out Sunday afternoon in Tantallon, a 30-minute drive northwest of downtown Halifax, The Canadian Press reported. The fire destroyed at least 10 homes and damaged others, driven by unseasonably high temperatures, gusty winds and dry conditions. 

To date, there are no missing people or injuries reported. About 170 firefighters are on scene, the city reported in a statement. 

“Every so often, we see fire outside of Halifax, so that’s nothing new,” McGillivray said. “But we don’t often see really aggressive fires in the area like this one.” 

Rannoch Harley, director of loss adjusting for Atlantic Canada with Crawford & Company (Canada) Inc., told CU wildfires are a regular occurrence in Nova Scotia, but rarely “this close to a major urban centre.”  

In 2009, there was a significant wildfire impacting Spryfield (within the Halifax Regional Municipality), but the most recent wildfire “involves a much wider swath of territory, more homes and more jurisdictions evacuated,” Harley said.

A few weeks ago, a large fire in Digby, N.S., grew to about 80 hectares “and may have been an omen for the kind of fire season Nova Scotia would face this year,” McGillivray added. “Indeed, the province has already had more fires in 2023 than in all of 2022 combined. This fire should wake us up to the fact that wildfire is not just a western phenomenon.” 

Alberta was in the spotlight recently due to numerous wildfires, and a provincial state of emergency remains in effect. About 3,500 people remain evacuated from their homes, down from 10,655 a week ago. 

While more than 16,000 evacuations in Nova Scotia might be large from an evacuation standpoint (because the fire is in a suburb of Halifax), the blaze doesn’t appear to be large in terms of area burned, McGillivray said. “Though that doesn’t really matter from a loss standpoint; you can get large losses from smaller fires.” 

It is still early days, but it’s possible the fire will be declared a Cat (more than $30 million in insured losses), Harley said. More than 100 homes are believed to have suffered direct damage by the fire, and at least 10 homes have been destroyed. 

McGillivray agreed it’s too early to say whether the wildfire will be a Cat, as much depends on wind and the ability of wildfire services to suppress the fire. “The area currently being impacted appears to have homes that are quite spread out,” meaning it’s not a dense community, he said. “This will aid in keeping insured losses down.” 

“We could very well see the loss of other [homes], as well as of businesses, outbuildings, and vehicles,” McGillivray said. “Smoke is quite dense, so many homes and businesses not directly impacted by fire will experience smoke damage.” 

Crawford is also seeing or anticipates fire/smoke claims and those related to additional living expenses/evacuation by civil authority. 

As of Monday morning, “the fire is deemed to be out of control, though it has been reported that winds are shifting in a way that the fire is being blown back to areas already burned,” McGillivray said. “We will have to see how it all plays out.” 

Feature image by iStock.com/shaunl