Goobie grateful that Holyrood pulled through wildfire okay

By Craig Westcott

With the flames out but the smell of burnt woods lingering, Holyrood council offered a preliminary assessment last meeting on how the firefighting effort and evacuation of homes played out last month.
The call about a “brush fire with an open flame” in a wooded area near Moosey Meadows and 88 Conception Bay Highway came in to the Holyrood Fire Department about 2 p.m. on Monday, August 4.
“There was serious concern about the health and safety of the residents in the area, and an immediate evacuation of Moosey Meadows as well as residents east of Beaumont Place to the bridge including Duff’s Road and Green Acres,” said Mayor Gary Goobie.
Evacuees were asked to report to the Canadian Red Cross at the CBS Arena in Kelligrews.
“The emergency plan for the town was enacted and we were assigned the assistance of a regional emergency management and planning officer in the person of Devon Reid,” Goobie said.
A communications centre was set up at the Town Hall with staff getting updates from all the government departments responding to the blaze under the management of the Provincial Emergency Operations Command. The Department of Forestry was the lead player in executing the plan to deal with the fire.
“The Holyrood Fire Department supported by Central Avalon Ground Search and Rescue were the boots on the ground protecting the town,” said Goobie, who at 9 p.m. on the first night of the fire declared a partial state of emergency.
Members of the Central Avalon Ground Search and Rescue knocked on doors to make sure people were out of the danger zone. The Town used Voyent Messaging and its own social media accounts to communicate with residents. 
“The Holyrood Fire Department provided overall fire command for the affected area in Holyrood,” Goobie said. “Central Avalon Search and Rescue provided command of ground resources and the CBS Fire Department assisted with coordination and staging of regional departments who offered support to the effort.”
On August 5, the Town extended the evacuation order to encompass the area from 377 Conception Bay Highway to the CBS boundary and declared a full state of emergency.  Because of the increased evacuee numbers, residents were now sent to Villanova Junior High in Manuels, CBS, to register with the Red Cross.
“Despite encountering several challenges including effective management of water supply with low levels in our municipal tank, breakdowns of apparatus due to significant demands being put on the trucks, strain on equipment and supplies, extreme temperatures, the need for pet evacuations and animal welfare and many others, our department members and those from our region, as well as the dedicated Central Avalon Ground Search and Rescue demonstrated true resilience, grit and determination to protect our community with everything that they had, and all challenges were overcome with ease and efficiency,” said Goobie.
The fire eventually grew to 22 hectares with 925 residents evacuated.
“Our crew believed in their training, and in themselves as firefighters, and acted accordingly,” said the mayor.
On August 8, the evacuation area was reduced, and the next day suspended, along with the state of emergency, said Goobie, pointing out Holyrood got through the crisis with no injuries or deaths and with no loss of houses.
“We have many people to thank,” said the mayor, “starting with our very own dedicated firefighters… and our neighbouring fire departments who did not hesitate to come to our aid.”
Goobie also thanked Avalon Ground Search and Rescue, the provincial command team, “and this whole community for their support, prayers and good will as we fought this beast. An appropriate thank you will be forthcoming once we have an opportunity to do a complete debrief of our emergency response. For now, we simply say, thank you. You have done well to remind us all of the humanity and kindness which exists around us. To do those communities still battling fire, we offer our help in any way we can. We will continue to pray for the safety of all residents in those affected communities, while we give grateful thanks for the safety of our town.”
Goobie said the biggest bouquet goes to the residents for their understanding and help during “one of the most frightful and serious events” in Holyrood’s recent history.
“The Town of Holyrood is an amazing community,” said Goobie. “I have to say as mayor, I was never as proud to wear this chain of office ever while I sat in this chair.”
Councillor Peter Winsor, who chairs council’s infrastructure committee, noted the fire occurred after repairs had been made to one of Holyrood’s wells, but before the town’s water tank was able to fill back up to a normal level.
“And during the firefighting effort we also had a significant leak on Route 60 by Subway restaurant, which was promptly repaired, but having another leak during these times didn’t help matters,” he said. “Our tank actually went down lower than five feet, which is a dangerous level if we were to in this same time period have another emergency elsewhere in the town boundaries, like a structure fire or something like that. On a positive note, when we put the call out to residents using our Voyent system and social media channels to explain our challenges, everyone answered the call… and we didn’t have to put in an order or close valves or anything of that nature. We asked for the participation of residents. They understood the challenge that we were faced with, and they cooperated. And I’m really happy to say that the tank is over half full and is now standing at 18 feet. Thank you everybody in the town for your support during that challenge and for doing the right thing for your community, it’s so important.”
Winsor also had a message for residents in the evacuation area who are on private wells that might have been contaminated during the firefighting effort.
“We have a filling station set up,” he said. “The Province has taken samples for all the wells on Green Acres and Duff’s Road…. When the Town gets those results back, residents will be notified. Other private wells in the evacuation area were asked to take their own samples, which were brought to the Town, and they will also be sent to the lab for testing. We want to make sure that people’s drinking water is safe.”
Deputy Mayor Michelle Woodford, who chairs the economic development committee, said many businesses were also affected by the evacuation.
“We just want to say we realize it has been challenging for all of us, for residents and businesses, especially that were directly affected by the fire and evacuated from their homes and their place of business,” said Woodford. “There were 13 businesses directly affected and displaced by the evacuation order, and that was of course a decision that was based on the safety of everyone. We want to acknowledge and thank those businesses because they continued to cooperate and support the efforts of our firefighters.”
Woodford also thanked the businesses that donated nourishment to the firefighters and others involved in the fire response.
“The emergency plan worked great,” said public safety committee chairman and councillor Bruce King. “And the result of the emergency plan working great was the fact we had no loss of property, and no loss of life and no injuries… I couldn’t help thinking back to (budget time) last year and to some of the comments on social media about, ‘We don’t need any more emergency equipment,’ We don’t need any more vehicles.’ ‘Why should we be responding outside the boundaries of Holyrood?’ Sound familiar? I looked at one of them today… and that’s why I wanted to bring it up tonight.”
King said those people should stop living inside their own bubble.
“The departments who helped us out were Harbour Main-Chapel’s Cove-Lakeview, Avondale, Conception Bay South, St. John’s Regional, Torbay, Portugal Cove-St. Phillip’s, Pouch Cove and Witless Bay,” King said. “We had a really good collection of people coming to our aid. So, we should never hear anything about ‘bubble’ and ‘isolation’ ever again.”
Councillor Mable Tilley, who volunteers with Avalon Ground Search and Rescue, thanked all the volunteers involved in the effort to fight the fire and help people leave their homes.
“I can’t stress how fortunate we are to have the great firefighters that we have and to have the great response that we got,” Tilley said. “Just to give an idea of the hours that are put into this, the whole operation that happened in Holyrood, just the ground search and rescue itself had over 2,200 volunteer hours, and I’m sure the fire department well exceeded that. These volunteers with the fire department, as well as everybody else on the ground, cashed in their summer vacations to be here and help. That’s something I think everybody needs to be aware of.”
Tilley too was grateful for all the donations from businesses. “Every time we looked there was someone coming across the parking lot with subs, or chicken or boxes of donuts, and cases of water,” said Tilley. “It’s phenomenal the community support.”
Communications chairperson Laura Crawley said the crisis reinforced the value of the Town’s Voyent direct contact system. 
“A large number of people have come forward to sign up for Voyent, but we want to keep encouraging (others). Don’t hang up on us when someone reaches out to ask, ‘Would you like to sign up?’”
Putting on her corporate services committee hat, Crawley said people who are worried their taxes may have to go up to help the Town cover all the costs associated with the fire can relax.
“Last year in the budget… we did put aside a disaster relief fund,” said Crawley. “I don’t know if we jinxed ourselves, but we did have a disaster emergency fund. We’re going to see if we can pull from that before we let the dust settle. We do have those extra resources.”