Wildfire near Churchill Falls threatens to engulf town, power station

This article was written by Lindsay Jones and was published in the Globe & Mail on June 27, 2024.

An out-of-control wildfire continued to burn Wednesday on the edge of an evacuated Labrador town built around one of North America’s largest power plants. While the fire remained a threat to the hydroelectric facility and town of Churchill Falls, rain and cooler temperatures gave hope to community members and officials, with similar weather forecast for the next several days.

Robert Dawe, a long-time employee of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, breathed a sigh of relief on Wednesday afternoon as he watched on a webcam heavy rain pouring down through the streets of Churchill Falls from his girlfriend’s home three hours east in Happy Valley Goose Bay. That town is where many people have found shelter after being ordered to leave their community, which has thus far been spared any major fire damage.

“It’s a beautiful sight,” said Mr. Dawe.

“At least with the weather being less hot, more humid, more rain falling, the bombers getting back, we’re definitely in a better spot.”

Earlier this week, the raging wildfire forced a full evacuation of the town, leading NL Hydro to reduce its power supply to customers in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, and to test a new strategy to operate the massive 53-year-old power plant from afar.

NL Hydro president Jennifer Williams said so far it’s going well, but she was uncertain about how long it could last.

“To say it can happen for 24 hours or two years, we’re checking that. We’re really kind of testing that,” she said during a news conference Wednesday.

“We expect that as long as there’s no significant fluctuations or major system disturbances, we can continue for quite some time.”

Ms. Williams added that running the plant remotely for the next few weeks is not ideal, but it shouldn’t be a problem.

While he commended the set-up, Premier Andrew Furey said the need for remote operation of the plant “will be a kind of lesson moving forward and a take-away,” after the fire is extinguished.

Jamie Chippett, N.L.’s deputy minister of the Department of Fisheries, Forestry, and Agriculture, said the fire severity has been reduced from an extreme Category 6 to a 3 overnight, with some open flame, lots of smoke and hot spots.

“These are much better days to fight fires,” he said, referencing the humidity and rainfall, compared to the past week of hot, arid weather that helped fuel a fire that began June 13 and grew to 15 square kilometres.

As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 10 wildfires in Labrador, with seven considered out of control.

The Churchill Falls Hydroelectric Generating Station is the second-largest underground hydroelectric plant in North America.

The plant’s 11 turbines can generate up to 5,400 megawatts of power, with 90 per cent of it flowing to Quebec and neighbouring markets in Canada and the United States, while also providing electricity to 300,000 customers in 200 communities in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The fires in Labrador knocked out power from two transmission lines Tuesday afternoon, leaving the western communities of Labrador City and Wabush in the dark.

Crews have since been able to get most people in Labrador City back online by connecting to power through Hydro-Québec but people have been asked to conserve electricity and hot water.

Ms. Williams said there is no way to do the same for the nearby town of Wabush and no clear sight on when power to the town of roughly 1,900 people will be restored.

She said the company is researching contingencies such as bringing in short-term supply or making technical modifications.

Meanwhile, Ms. Williams said the company is hoping for a window to airlift a crew by helicopter into Churchill Falls to try to re-energize the lines, though it’s still unknown whether it’s as simple as a quick flick of the switch. The lines may be damaged, she said, later adding that in case of a catastrophic issue, one option is to bring in a generator.

“We’re hopeful but we’re still at the mercy of Mother Nature,” she said.

Environment Canada has called for showers or a chance of showers for the rest of the week in Churchill Falls.

NL Hydro’s industrial customers, including Iron Ore Co. of Canada in Labrador City and Tacora, a mining company in Wabush, continue to be without power.

Dr. Furey said the power loss to the mining companies is concerning and he hopes it’s a short term problem.