North Shore turns to rebuilding after devastating month of fire

By Olivia Bradbury / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Now that the fires have been wrestled to the point of containment, a fund that was established this past spring to bolster the resources of the fire department is being redirected to help those who lost their homes in the North Shore great fire this summer.

The fund was started after the wildfire in Adams Cove in May fire that destroyed 12 homes and about 40 other structures. After discussions with the North Shore Volunteer Fire Department, the Town of Small Point–Broad Cove–Blackhead–Adam’s Cove decided to fund improvements in the brigade’s firefighting capability. With support from the Community Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (CFNL), it started a fund.

“These fires have really strengthened the relationship between the Town and the fire department for obvious reasons,” said Small Point–Broad Cove–Blackhead–Adam’s Cove Deputy Mayor Mark Ploughman. 

The fund had raised some $68,194 before the great fire of this summer broke out near Kingston. That conflagration has destroyed approximately 200 structures on the North Shore, including 33 houses and a school in Ploughman’s town in addition to what it lost in May. Given the level of that devastation, the Small Point–Broad Cove–Blackhead–Adam’s Cove council decided to refocus the fund for the broader area and help individuals and families rebuild their primary residences wherever they were on the North Shore, from Kingston to Northern Bay.

The disbursement of the North Shore Fires Recovery Fund will be guided by local decision-making and oversight to ensure integrity and maximize community benefit, said Ploughman. The council of Small Point–Broad Cove–Blackhead–Adam’s Cove will set up a volunteer committee comprised of people from the North Shore communities. A terms of reference has been drafted and sent to the CFNL for comment. 

Ploughman said that as the only incorporated municipality in the region, Small Point–Broad Cove–Blackhead–Adam’s Cove has the resources to organize the committee and the tools to support the residents, which is why they are taking the lead. 

“But the idea is that there will be full, strong financial oversight, good governance, and we’ll be doing it in partnership with the Community Foundation,” said Ploughman. 

They may eventually expand the mandate, he added, as there seems to be many offers of support coming in.

“The loss goes quite a bit deeper than financial loss,” said Ploughman. “As we, as a town, start to think about how we can recover and rebuild, we have to come up with creative ways of addressing that loss.”

It’s a lot more than the usual work of managing water systems, collecting garbage, and plowing snow,” he admitted. “This event, this disaster, brings a whole new set of tasks in front of us, a whole new set of problems,” said Ploughman. “We can’t use the same tools that we normally use to fix problems for our residents. And we will have to lean very heavily, very heavily, on the supports of the provincial and federal governments.”

CFNL is waiving its cost recovery fees for the North Shore Fires Recovery Fund, meaning all donations will go directly to the North Shore communities. The Town is operating a Comfort Centre to help residents re-enter the community and begin the recovery process. At the centre, there are information resources, bottled water, non-perishable foods, and other supplies. Anyone interested in making donations to the centre can contact Scott Chandler at welcomecenter@smallpoint-adamscove.ca. You can also contact the town office by phone at (709) 598-2610, by e-mail at townoffice@smallpoint-adamscove.ca, or through its Facebook page.