Some residents forced from homes by Long Lake wildfire can return Wednesday

September 2, 2025

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Some residents forced from homes by Long Lake wildfire can return Wednesday

Residents Allowed to Return Home After Long Lake Wildfire Evacuations

After being evacuated from their homes due to the Long Lake wildfire in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, some residents will finally be able to return starting Wednesday morning. The announcement was made at a wildfire briefing on Tuesday afternoon.

The wildfire, which has been burning for three weeks, remains out of control and covers 8,468 hectares, or almost 85 square kilometres.

Residents living in specific areas will be permitted to return to their homes at the following times:

All roads around Trout Lake – 9 a.m. AT.
All roads around Zwickers and East lakes – 11 a.m.
Highway 10, West Dalhousie Road from Highway 10 to Che-Boag-A-Nish Road, and Che-Boag-A-Nish Road (Connell Lake) – 1 p.m.

“Just because you are returning home does not mean that we’re completely out of the woods yet,” said Dustin Enslow, deputy warden of Annapolis County.

Enslow mentioned that while residents of 360 homes will be allowed to return, 145 civic addresses remain evacuated.

Jim Rudderham, director of fleet and forest protection for the Department of Natural Resources, advised residents to remain prepared to leave if necessary.

“There is still the possibility that it could change again, but we want to get people home as soon as we can, as safely as we can, so at this point … [we’re] quite confident they can go home right now, but again reminding them it is an active fire zone,” he said.

Residents returning to their homes must have a piece of identification with their address listed. Failure to provide this may result in denial of access.

Enslow also recommended that these residents keep a 72-hour emergency kit handy in case further evacuations are required.

At 4 p.m., Highway 10 will reopen to the general public.