mooseland road wildfire explodes to 300 hectares, evacuation order issued
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smoke rises from the mooseland road wildfire just after 3 p.m. thursday. the fire had grown to 300 hectares by 9 p.m. /contributed
homes and businesses along a stretch of mooseland road were put under a mandatory evacuation order because of a rapidly spreading wildfire.
an emergency alert was sent out at about 8:30 p.m. thursday advising all residents to leave their homes immediately. the fire started the day at about four hectares in size after being reported wednesday evening. it grew to seven hectares by lunchtime thursday but exploded to 300 hectare by suppertime.
that surge happened after the wind changed direction and flames jumped mooseland road.
an aerial view of the mooseland road wildfire on thursday.
nova scotia department of natural resources
the evacuation order and emergency alert told residents to leave the area immediately and follow designated evacuation routes and the orders of emergency officials. the affected area was a 22-kilometre stretch of the road from civic number 4315 to highway 7.
affected residents were being asked to register with evacuation centres at musquodoboit rural high school, on highway 224 in middle musquodoboit, or marine drive academy on church point road in sheet harbour.
more information is available at halifax.ca/emergency-communications.
rain fell in some parts of nova scotia for about an hour thursday evening, but that wasn’t enough to help quell the flames moving through heavily wooded areas.
firefighters from eight stations responded to the original call off mooseland road in jacket lake, north of tangier, at 7 p.m. wednesday. they fought the fire until dark, when they had to leave the woods for safety reasons. they returned to the site thursday morning.
halifax fire assistant chief amos robia said the fire had been between sixth and seventh lakes in the tangier grand lake wilderness area. by 3 p.m. the brisk winds changed direction and the fire jumped the road.
halifax regional municipality issued an alert at 5:30 p.m. thursday that residents north of civic 2890 and south of civic 2124 on mooseland road should be prepared to evacuate on short notice if conditions changed.
robia said in the morning that 25 career and volunteer halifax firefighters were assisting 20 department of natural resources firefighters at the scene.
“it’s the best-case scenario for us because we have access to a lot of water in the area, which is making our job a lot easier,” he said.
there are many lakes in the area.
a portion of the burned forest at the mooseland road fire in jacket lake, halifax county on july 16, 2026.
halifax professional fire fighters association
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jim rudderham, the director of forest protection for dnr, said at noon that helicopters were working the fires, with help from the department’s planes dropping fire retardant.
“we use all the tools we can, the best way we can, so it’s a bit of a ballet,” rudderham said. “they bounce around and help out those who need it when they need it.”
he said it’s not known yet what started the fire, “but we had so much lightning around yesterday it could very well be (a strike).”
at about the same time the mooseland road fire broke out wednesday night, another fire was reported in the area of west stoney lake in annapolis county. crews from three volunteer fire departments and dnr were in that area thursday to start fight that blaze.
there were four separate fires reported within a five-hectare area, rudderham said.
“they’re in the same general area, which would make us assume it was caused by lightning, but that isn’t confirmed yet,” rudderham said.
two of the fires were deemed as being held by lunch time, and by 6 p.m. the entire fire was deemed to be under control.
he said accessibility to the site was good.
in the morning, dnr planes dropped retardant around the fires, which were burning near the shore of the lake. a helicopter was also working the blaze.
rudderham said there were some cabins in the area but no homes.
there were 15 dnr firefighters and 15 members of volunteer fire departments working to contain the fires.
west stoney lake is south of annapolis royal and east of highway 8, near the community of perotte.
brenda thompson lives about five kilometres from west stoney lake. she said she’s been told the fire is along the shore of the lake and deep in the woods.
“i woke up this morning smelling the smoke and choking on it,” she said. “i’m a little nervous; this one is even closer than last year’s (in long lake).”
the smoke cleared as the winds picked up, thompson said.
last year, she and her family had their bags packed for two months in case they fell under an evacuation order.
“my daughter asked me last night, ‘are we going to have to pack our bags for the summer again?'” thompson said.
the fires come less than a week after storms passed over the province, creating multiple lightning strikes that were responsible for at least two fires last weekend. so far they have all been brought under control relatively quickly, but forecasts of heavy rainfall over the past week have not come to pass in many areas, and the fire risk index is climbing steadily.
there was also lightning in cumberland county on wednesday.
thompson said the storms last friday passed right over the community.
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