The forest fires in central Newfoundland are increasing in size and plans to open the Bay d’Espoir Highway sporadically have been dashed. Forestry crews are assessing the situation but they will have to spend the day tackling the blaze on this, day 13.

Mother Nature is doing them no favours with heat warnings, lightning strikes and no rain of any consequence.

Fire Duty Officer Jeff Motty says the best they can do right now is to hop to have it open tomorrow.

Forestry wants cabin owners in the area of the Bay d’Espoir highway to leave the area.

The department says anyone with cabins or campers around Great Rattling Brook (North & South), Miguel and Martin Lake, Tote Brook, Paradise Lake, Sunday Pond and North West Gander River should leave as the forest fire is extremely active.

2/3: Safety is paramount. Residents, cabin & camper owners are asked to leave their cabins and avoid the affected areas, including forest access roads. Resources have begun arriving from Quebec and are anticipated to begin support efforts tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/y7Q3DPsWvU

— Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture NL (@FFA_GovNL) August 4, 2022

The Exploits River Motel and Restaurant on the Bay d’Espoir Highway has been booked solid for the past three nights. Before that, there would be sometimes only a few cars in the lot, sometimes about 20 but right now there are about 70 as the road to Harbour Breton and points beyond remain closed.

Manager Rick Larocque says it has been a rough couple of weeks for many as one does not expect to be stranded because of a forest fire.

He posted on Facebook that anyone who needs to use a bathroom can call him any time, day or night, and he will open one up.

There’s an air quality advisory out for central and while the smoke wasn’t bad yesterday, Larocque says they woke this morning to a much different situation.

If he looks down the highway from the motel it’s very thick, and if he looks over the Exploits River valley, he can barely see the hills and trees.