Crews fighting fire near Labrador City are about to get some reinforcements

The fire threatening Labrador City is still burning hot, but the provincial fire duty officer says rain and additional firefighters should help crews get a better handle on the situation Wednesday.

George Gibbons told CBC News on Wednesday morning the fire is still about fourkilometres from Labrador City and the perimeter remains where it was Tuesday.

"Today is going to be a big day for us. We are going to have 20 Type 1firefighters coming in from New Brunswick and we'vegot anther 29 additionalfirefighters coming in from the island that's going to arrive today," Gibbons said.

He said he expects weather to help, citing variable wind, cloudy conditions and some rain showers in the afternoon, which will help cool the fire down so firefighters can be deployed.

"We should be able to get a good handle on her if Mother Nature cooperates."

Environment Canada is forecasting a mix of sun and cloud Wednesday for the Labrador City area, with two to four millimetres of rain, ending in the evening. The temperature will be a high of 19 C.

On Wednesday, he said there will be four helicopters, four helicopters, a plane and 19 firefighters fightingthefire, but when all the resources are completely deployed, there will be85 people assigned.

"After today, we're going to have a lot of resources in that area."

On Tuesday, he said, staff were able to install sprinklers in some areas to help protect infrastructure and they also flagged locations for fire breaks, but he added the town needs to approve them before work can start.

According to the provincial government's online fire dashboard, as of Wednesday morning there are 12 fires in Labrador, down one from Tuesday.

Stay patient, says mayors

In a video on Facebook, Wabush Mayor Ron Barron saidTuesday evening that the fire is still hot but the humidity helped fight, and that water bombers and helicopters "performed very well."

"It was even said one of the helicopters had 199 drops, one helicopter. I don't know if that's some kind of record or what," Barron said.

"They hit it very hard with the air support [Tuesday]."

Also in a video on Facebook, Labrador City Mayor Belinda Adams said firefighters have worked hard to protect the town and infrastructure, like the Iron Ore Company'srailbed.

"They dropped record buckets today. They've been working really hard and dropping lots," said Adams, who noted not much rain is in Wednesday's forecast.

"This fire is still hot. It's still out of control and this fire is still too close for comfort. So people needn't get complacent."

She said doesn't know when people will be able to return to the community.

"I can't reiterate enough that this fire is still volatile. It's still out of control. It's extremely hot and extremely dusty. The crews are working their butts off to control this to get it down to where it's under control and not out of control.

"At the end of the day Mother Nature's going to control this one for us, to get it where it needs to be. And as you can tell from the forecast, there hasn't been a lot of rain."

Barron asked people to remain calm while firefighters and other personnel work to put out the fire.

"These folks are in here to help us to get us back to our lives," said Barron. "Be patient. They're doing everything they can to make this happen."

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