Halifax wildfires: Residents of citys western suburbs want more escape routes – Halifax [Video]

Almost two years after wildfires destroyed 200 structures, including 151 homes, in the western suburbs of Halifax, residents are anxious about the city’s slow progress in creating more ways for them to flee if the flames return.

Standing behind her child-care centre, rebuilt after it was destroyed in the 2023 spring wildfire, owner Donna Buckland said in a recent interview she has a detailed emergency plan outlining how staff and 68 children would escape in case of fire.

But she’s upset that Halifax doesn’t have “a viable” exit route for the outer areas of her Westwood Hills suburb — where a wildfire erupted on May 28, 2023 — even as federal research has noted the region has been abnormally dry over the past year.

City council recently approved a $2.7-million emergency road exit for Westwood Hills, but it’s to be located close to two existing exits — and about three …