Nancy Drennan was enjoying an easy Sunday afternoon — watching a movie while her children and friends were preparing to head to the lake for a swim from their home in suburban Halifax — when one of the teens happened to look out the window and noticed a frightening scene.
“One of the kids went into the kitchen and said, ‘There’s a big fire behind us!’ So I went to the window, and all the the trees behind my house were engulfed in flames,” she said.
Drennan yelled for the children to grab the dogs while she called 911. Her older children had taken the family car, so she and the younger ones fled on foot from their home on Juneberry Lane — managing to take only a backpack that happened to be sitting by the door.
Drennan was in her pajamas. Her daughter was barefoot.
“Once it went out of control, it was so fast,” she recalled.
“It started with when I looked out, it looked like three or four trees on fire and by the time we got to the top of Juneberry, it was spread almost to Westwood (Boulevard). Because of the wind, it was just everywhere.”
All Drennan and her neighbours could do was stand and wait for the firetrucks. They were eventually forced to evacuate the street, as flames continued to fan and the area was deemed unsafe.
Neither she nor her neighbours know the fate of their homes, although there have been rumours and she is aware the worst is likely.
In an update on Monday, Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Deputy Chief Dave Meldrum confirmed the forest fire began as a call on Juneberry Lane in Upper Tantallon, N.S.
By now, the out-of-control blaze had destroyed homes, forced the evacuation of thousands of residents, and led to a local state of emergency for the Tantallon and Hammonds Plains areas.
While officials haven’t confirmed how many homes were damaged, Meldrum said at least 10 structures were destroyed. The evacuation tally sits at around 14,000.
“We have a lot of work to do today, this week, for many days,” Meldrum said.
“This is difficult, and residents must be prepared to remain out of their homes for several days, at least.”
Drennan and her family are spread out at three different homes for now. She’s thankful to family, friends and co-workers for their support, but is also upset she hasn’t been able to glean more information about the fate of her house, where she’s lived since 2005.
“I have no idea what happened. You can’t find any information, nobody’s calling us,” she said.
“We really should be informed sooner rather than later because my family is stranded and split right now … it would be good to get on the ball with the insurance company that they could start the whole process if the house is gone.”
A helicopter carrying water flies over heavy smoke from an out-of-control fire in a suburban community outside of Halifax that spread quickly, engulfing multiple homes and forcing the evacuation of local residents on Sunday May 28, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese.
She’s thankful for the neighbourhood association’s emergency planning and said the evacuation on Sunday afternoon was smooth. She’s also incredibly grateful to the efforts of firefighters.
Looking back, Drennan said she thinks a lot about the “what ifs” and how everything could have played out.
“If (the kids) weren’t home, and they decided to stay out at the mall, I would have been watching my movie and I wouldn’t have paid attention. I wouldn’t have noticed,” she said.
“What if they had walked to the lake? Just before this happened? And then I didn’t have a car and I couldn’t get to them. So, as a mother, that will keep me up at night for a long time.”
— with a file from Motorcycle accident toronto today’ Alex Cooke
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