About 20,000 people living on the outskirts of St. John’s , N.L., were preparing to evacuate their homes and businesses Tuesday as a new wildfire burned near the province’s largest city.

Premier John Hogan issued a precautionary evacuation alert late Monday for parts of two towns southwest of St. John’s — Paradise and Conception Bay South. New alerts were issued Tuesday for Galway and Southlands, neighbourhoods on the western edge of the port city.

Sharlene Johnson, a single mother living in Conception Bay South, said she could see the fire from her home.

“I’m kind of just a sitting duck right now, waiting to see and reading news updates,” she said in an interview Tuesday.

Johnson and her two children live close to a wooded area. To prepare for an evacuation, they sprayed their hom

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