Rain in forecast for Churchill Falls, N.L., as wildfire threatens one of Canada’s largest power plants

While a forest fire continues to threaten Churchill Falls, it has yet to reach the central Labrador town built around one of North America's largest power plants.

The out-of-control fire jumped the nearby Churchill River and kept moving, said Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey in an update Wednesday morning.

"The fire subsequently jumped Hyde Lake even and then went towards the airport, jumped the airport even, and then went straight into the reservoir," Furey said.

Officials are hoping for a reprieve in the weather Wednesday, which has a slight rainfall — up to 15 millimetres — in the forecast.

The fire has been formidable.

Furey said up-to-date intelligence from aircraft is unavailable at the moment because of steam produced by the fire hitting bodies of water like the Smallwood reservoir — which he hopes has also reduced the fire.

Provincial forest fire duty officer Mark Lawlor said the fire was so powerful on Tuesday that water bombers stopped having an effect. For safety, the pilots pulled out.

"There was no suppression efforts we could have put in that yesterday to stop it," Lawlor told CBC News.

Furey is confident the province remains well equipped to battle the fires with help from Ontario and Quebec water bombers.

Four out of five of Newfoundland and Labrador's water bombers are active. Furey said the province is committed to fixing the fifth — but the extra aircraft wouldn't have mattered Tuesday.

"We would still be calling on help from across the country as provinces have called on us when their resources are stretched as well," he said.

WATCH | A dramatic shift in the fire's direction Tuesday prompted a full evacuation of Churchill Falls:

Wildfire jumps river, approaches Churchill Falls, N.L.

12 hours ago

Duration 1:43

High temperatures and strong winds helped fuel a wildfire that jumped a river toward Churchill Falls, N.L., putting a crucial hydroelectric plant and the community at risk.

After a broad evacuation June 18, a full evacuation order was issued Tuesday afternoon, forcing the remaining skeleton staff to leave for safety.

Between 80 and 100 people had been operating the plant and handling operations and site services, fire services and clearing work for a fire break that has been under construction.

"Forest officials continue to monitor fire conditions and has advised that as of this evening town structures have not been impacted," Hydro's website says in its most recent statement.

All personnel had been evacuated as of suppertime.

Ninety people registered at the YMCA in Happy Valley-Goose Bay on Tuesday evening, according to Furey, who said their safety is his primary concern.

"You can always rebuild buildings, you can always rebuild the power plants, You can always fix injured assets, but you can't replace people," he said.

The N.L. Hydro statement, posted at 10:54 p.m., said the plant is online but at a reduced load, monitored remotely by other Hydro staff.

The fire caused power outages in Labrador City and Wabush, two adjacent mining towns in western Labrador, as flames and dropped water tripped power lines at Churchill Falls.

While power was restored to most of Labrador City, "customers in Wabush will unfortunately remain without power as we continue to develop plans to restore the system as well as source alternate supply," said the statement.

To restore power in Wabush, Furey said, someone has to manually reset the lines.

"The only way to re-establish power to Wabush is to actually do the hard reset in Churchill Falls. We hope and pray that the weather conditions are favourable today to allow or in the near future to allow someone to go back to the plant and reset that line."

N.L. Hydro's statement also said that if the Churchill Fall supply is affected, eastern Labrador customers will get power from either Muskrat Falls or the Happy Valley-Goose Bay gas turbine.

While the fire was moving quickly, said Lawlor, there is reason to be optimistic.

"It wasn't good yesterday. However, the fire weather for today is predicted to be much, much better so that should give us the chance to get back."

His last report put the fire five kilometres from town, but he added that could have changed.

Rain in forecast

Meteorologist Allison Sheppard said between 10 and 15 millimetres of rain is forecast for Churchill Falls starting Wednesday morning. There has also been a change in wind direction and cooling temperatures in the evening.

Sheppard added the rain is probably not as much as people are hoping for.

"But definitely some changing conditions that hopefully will improve things in the area," she told CBC News.

More rain is also in the forecast but it could be some time before there is an extended period of heavy rain.

"We're certainly keeping our eyes on that area," she said.

Power plant preparing

At Tuesday's news conference, N.L. Hydro CEO Jennifer Williams said workers had been preparing for a full evacuation.

On Monday night, Hydro began releasing water at its Churchill Falls power plant in case the Crown corporation needed to remove even more staff from an evacuated community already under serious fire threat.

According to the Newfoundland and Labrador government's online fire dashboard, there were nine active fires in Labrador on Wednesday morning.

A fire previously burning on Newfoundland's east coast has now been extinguished.

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