A lone black crow atop a charred spruce tree was one of the only signs of animal life visible last week along a stretch of what used to be a lush green forest in the northern part of New Brunswick.

Now, the area is dotted with blackened trunks and strewn with ash from the Oilfield Road fire, which scorched more than 14 square kilometres of land near Miramichi, N.B., since it began in early August. The fire was brought under control on Sept. 2, and is being monitored.

Provincial forest rangers and firefighters guided reporters on a tour of the site to survey the damage. They explained how they deployed 125 people, four excavators, and 11 bulldozers, among other pieces of heavy machinery, to contain the fire on the ground as planes pummeled the flames from the skies with retardants and wat

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