Forest fires in Mud Lake and Grand Lake Road areas of Labrador

Forestry officials were dealing with a number of fires near Happy Valley-Goose Bay on Wednesday.

There are currently fires in two areas — the Mud Lake area and the Grand Lake Road area, according to fire duty officer Steve Balsom.

There are three fires in the Mud Lake area, averaging about 200 hectares each, he said. There are open flames but the fires are about eight kilometres away from the community of Mud Lake, so there is no threat.

In the Grand Lake Road area, there's smoke  but no open flame. Balsom said there is a water bomber putting foam on that fire. A second water bomber is being sent from Happy Valley-Goose Bay to help out if necessary.

"Due to [the Mud Lake fire's] location and the direction that it's burning, there's no threat at this point. So our focus will be to basically knock down the Grand Lake area and make sure that one is contained, and then we can basically focus our efforts on the Mud Lake [fire] but unfortunately due to the smoke and the open flames, we're unable to put a ground crew or have the water bombers attack it at this point," he said.

Conservation officers are monitoring the Mud Lake fire by helicopter.

There's been no structure damage or threat of damage so far.