The CEO of a service group that helped residents retrieve keepsakes and personal items from the fire scene in Adam’s Cove earlier this year is back on the island—this time leading a team of volunteers in the massive fire zone in Conception Bay North.
Mischa Kaplan of Team Rubicon Canada says he and his volunteers—known as grey shirts—worked with homeowners back in May and helped to retrieve personal items ranging from fully-intact photo albums to pet remains.
Team Rubicon in Adam’s Cove in May 2025 (Submitted)
They also help to clear hazards like road blockages, and cut down trees that might cause a safety concern.
Kaplan says he’s back on the ground assessing the damage. He calls it extensive and devastating.
He says they’re seeing “very similar types of things we’ve seen in other wildfires where you get a house that might be totally intact, and then the house next to it is completely burnt down. You know, it doesn’t really make a lot of sense, sometimes it’s just dependent on which way the wind’s blowing.” “So we’ve seen a lot of that, where there’s a structure that’s totally intact and right next door is gone.”
Team Rubicon (photo credit: Stephen MacGillivray)
He calls the fire scene one of the worst he’s seen.
“A lot of devastation, a lot of communities just kind of very, very impacted by what’s happened, and just the extent of it.” Kaplan says he doesn’t have the exact statistics, but he believes it’s the biggest wildfire Newfoundland has ever seen.”
Team Rubicon Canada is welcoming donations and they’re inviting volunteers to join them. You can find out more online.
