Wildfires declared out, Rushton says they were ‘human caused’

The Nova Scotia wildfires are officially out.

Firefighters spent weeks in Shelburne County and Tantallon monitoring for hotspots and putting them out.

Now the focus turns to what caused them.

Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton says they’ve handed their investigation over to the RCMP.

“We know at the time of those fires, there was no indication of any lightning strikes. We know that it was likely human caused,” Rushton told reporters after cabinet Thursday.

The fires caused thousands to be evacuated, hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed.

He says they’ll still monitor the areas affected.

Rushton was asked if more fire activity is possible this year.

“I don’t want to predict anything, but we aren’t taking our guard down. We encourage people to check the burn safe map online everyday at 2 p.m.”

Meanwhile, life has been slowly returning to normal in the Municipality of Barrington.

Warden Eddie Nickerson says it’s a big relief that the fire is out.

“And people can continue getting back to normal and rebuilding. It was certainly devastating to our community, and we know we need to move on too. We hope everyone can get back to their homes and live a normal, everyday Southwest Nova Scotia lifestyle,” said Nickerson.

Over 150 structures were damaged or destroyed in the Barrington Lake fire in May, the largest in our province’s history.

The Red Cross is still set up in the community.