There was only one stop for gasoline for people fleeing a wildfire near Labrador City on Friday, and workers at Strickland’s Auto and Gas in Churchill Falls pulled an all-nighter to keep it open.
Co-owner Cindy Michelin said this morning that one of her employees was just heading home after working for 17 hours to be sure everyone heading for safety in Happy Valley-Goose Bay had enough fuel to make the trip.
Residents of Labrador City were ordered to evacuate on Friday night after a day of what forestry officials described as “extreme fire behaviour.”
Officials said there is a danger that the out-of-control forest fire west of Labrador City, near the border with Quebec, would keep spreading toward the community over the next day or so.
Labrador City is home to about 7,450 people, and the town ordered them to head east to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, which is a six-hour drive along a remote, two-lane highway that cuts through the wilderness in the southern part of the region.
Posts on social media showed people arriving in Happy-Valley-Goose Bay this morning after waiting in hours-long lineups heading into Churchill Falls in central Labrador, which is the only place to gas up along the way.
Churchill Falls was evacuated because of fires last month, and Michelin says people there were happy to help since they knew all too well what everyone from Labrador City was going through.
She says there were even volunteers working all night to help direct the traffic into and out of the gas station.
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey is expected to provide an update about the fire later today.