New BrunswickResidents of Lavillette, about 20 kilometres northwest of Esgenoôpetitj First Nation, should be ready to leave their homes on short notice, the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization says.Residents of Lavillette told to prepare to evacuate on short notice as nearby fire poses riskSavannah Awde · CBC News · Posted: Aug 15, 2025 6:34 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoThe Oldfield Road fire, pictured on Wednesday and shared with CBC News on Friday, is still out of control and has grown slightly since Thursday. (Government of New Brunswick)Residents of Lavillette, about 20 kilometres northwest of Esgenoôpetitj First Nation, should be ready to leave their homes on short notice, the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization says.The advisory, issued Friday night, said an out-of-control fire near the northeastern New Brunswick community poses a potential risk to people and property.If residents must evacuate they will receive an Alert Ready notification on their phones, television or radio.The fire is about one-tenth of a hectare in size and was listed as out of control as of 8 p.m.Several fires continued to burn out of control in New Brunswick on Friday, and the government is expecting more help Saturday with its firefighting efforts.The province’s largest wildfire, the Oldfield Road fire, which straddles the northern edge of the city of Miramichi, is still out of control on its 10th day, now listed at 1,402 hectares, an increase of 50 hectares from Thursday.Natural Resources Minister John Herron said Friday that lightning caused several fires on Thursday and could cause more fires in the weeks to come. “It’s important to know that that lightning strikes don’t always create an immediate fire,” Herron said at a news conference. “We may have lightning, and a strike has occurred, but that can smolder for up to two weeks.”Natural Resources Minister John Herron has recommended New Brunswickers take preventive measures as fires continue to burn. He says residents with homes near the woods should trim trees to help contain possible fires. (Chad Ingraham/CBC)There were 23 active fires burning across New Brunswick as of the evening. Just after 6 p.m., the province’s fire map listed seven out-of-control fires. That’s down from Friday morning, when nine were burning out of control.A new fire broke out Friday evening in Newtown, about 15 kilometres northeast of Sussex. As of 6 p.m. that was listed as out of control and 1.5 hectares in size. The largest out-of-control fire after Oldfield Road is Chief’s, which is farther west than the others and is about 25 hectares.As more fires start, and existing ones burn on, 40 additional firefighters are coming from Ontario on Saturday, the province’s update says. But 20 Nova Scotia firefighters will be returning to their province to support wildfire efforts there.The province said in its morning update that the new firefighters were arriving from Alberta, but Herron corrected that to Ontario in the late-afternoon news conference.But the province also reported fewer firefighters deployed on Friday — 130 as of Friday evening, down from 186 on Thursday night.Herron also said the province has secured three new water bombers.There were still no official reports of structures lost to the fires as of Friday.The province has said that because of high traffic volumes, its online dashboard of fire information may be slow or take a while to load. New Brunswick, along with much of the rest of the country, has experienced hot and dry conditions for the last two weeks or so.A helicopter with a water reservoir leaves the Hugh John Flemming Forestry Centre in Fredericton on Thursday. (Aniekan Etuhube/CBC)A weak cold front on Thursday brought slightly cooler temperatures than the high 30s that many regions had been getting. The highest temperature in the province on Thursday was 30.7 in Moncton, while Miramichi, which broke daily temperature records all week, topped at 27.4 C.Some places also saw brief periods of rain.According to CBC meteorologist Tina Simpkin, Saturday will see temperatures ranging from 21 C along the coast to 27 C inland. There is a chance of showers for Sunday, with similar temperatures to Friday and Saturday.An Environment Canada special air quality statement is still in place for the Miramichi area and southeast New Brunswick because of smoke from nearby wildfires. CorrectionsAn earlier verion of this story said 40 firefighters are expected to arrive on Saturday from Alberta. In fact, they are from Ontario. Incorrect information was released by the province on Friday morning. Aug 15, 2025 4:12 PM EDTABOUT THE AUTHORSavannah Awde is a reporter with CBC New Brunswick. You can contact her with story ideas at savannah.awde@cbc.ca.
Evacuation advisory issued for northeast N.B. community, several fires out of control
