By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative
As wildfires continue to burn across Newfoundland, Townships-born Robert Lodge is keeping a close eye on the situation back home while visiting his sister in Sherbrooke. Though he says his property is not directly under threat at the moment, he and his family remain prepared in case evacuation becomes necessary.
Newfoundland and Labrador has faced one of its worst wildfire seasons on record in 2025. By Aug. 9, approximately 10,697 hectares had already burned in the province, with several blazes still classified as out of control, according to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System and Environment Canada. The largest, the Kingston fire in Conception Bay North, destroyed more than 200 structures and led to widespread evacuation orders, CBC News reported. Authorities responded by imposing a province-wide fire ban until Sept. 7, declaring local states of emergency, and deploying Canadian Armed Forces support, according to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and coverage by The Guardian.
For Lodge, who has lived in central Newfoundland for more than four decades, the fires are uncomfortably close to home. “I moved to Newfoundland 42 years ago,” he said, explaining that he now lives in central Newfoundland, near the Martin Lake fire. “It’s about 20 kilometres from Grand Falls–Windsor, so we’re not under any evacuation order there”.
Still, the uncertainty lingers. “It’s a little bit of anxiety, a little bit of anticipation,” Lodge admitted. “You kind of have to plan. You have to figure out what’s the most important thing to put in the car to take … your papers, your passports, all your documents … and you hope for the best and you leave things behind and just cross your fingers.”
He noted that while he is in Sherbrooke this week, his home is not unattended. “We have someone staying at our house, so we had the evacuation stuff all in order. So, if they did have to evacuate, they could take the pets and the important papers and go,” he explained.
The veteran teacher and arts administrator recalled that fires of this scale were once rare in Newfoundland, but not anymore. “We were under evacuation order back in 2023, where I had the car actually packed, ready to go,” he said. “From 1986 to 2003, it’s quite a while, but now it’s starting to happen more frequently.” He attributed that rise in risk to changing weather conditions. “We had a snowless winter … everything dried real quickly. We had a really hot May and June, July, and it just went from there.”
Communication during emergencies relies on local media, Lodge explained, with alerts broadcast on radio, television, or social media. Residents are typically directed to register with the Canadian Red Cross in safe communities to confirm they have evacuated.
When asked about the emotional toll of repeated threats, Lodge paused. “It’s such an overwhelming thing if that happened. What do you do then? Do you rebuild? Do you stay there? Do you leave? All kinds of questions will probably go through your head,” he said.
Despite the stress, Lodge remains attached to his Newfoundland home. “Right now, no,” he replied when asked if the fires have him reconsidering where he lives. “But with global change, you can’t tell what’s going to happen, right? One summer, all rain … I probably might feel different if I had lost my house in a fire.”
As of this week, he said the fire near his community has shrunk somewhat after recent rain. “It’s probably burning on itself now a little bit. They are not spreading, so hopefully by the time we get back … that will slow things down a lot for all the fires, because there’s three that are out of control in the province. Two of them are near St. John’s, and one of them is in Central near us,” Lodge explained.
Lodge is scheduled to return to Newfoundland Aug. 20. Though relieved that conditions at home appear to be improving, he acknowledges that the risk is part of life now. “When those evergreens start, it’s pretty hard to stop them,” he said. “It’s a lot of anxiety and a lot of worry.”