The wildfire that destroyed eight homes and sparked a mass evacuation in the Halifax area last spring may have been prevented if fire crews hadn't been delayed in returning to the scene, according to internal Halifax regional fire service documents.

An email, obtained by CBC News through a freedom of information request, says that staffing protocols may have delayed firefighters in the critical minutes before the fire flared out of control on April 30, 2009.

"I understand that the crew had to arrange for a cover and that may have delayed their return to the scene of the original fire," Fire Chief Bill Mosher said in the email written on May 19, 2009 — two weeks after the fire.

"A cover" means the Herring Cove firefighters had to ask firefighters from other areas to come mind their station while they were away. This delay meant the crew didn't get back to the woods before the fire flared again.

The stage was set on April 29, after fire spread from a campfire pit on the west bank of McIntosh Run, north of Roaches Pond in Spryfield.

By 8 p.m., the fire was under control, though not out. The water-bombing from above stopped and crews from the Department of Natural Resources and the Halifax fire service left for the night.

The next morning, April 30, dawned hot and windy, and four firefighters came back to patrol the smoldering remains of the original fire. At 11 a.m., they decided it was safe to leave to take a lunch break. They returned to their station on nearby Herring Cove Road.

But when lunch was over, the firefighters weren't able to return to the scene immediately because their replacements who were due to arrive at their station at 1:30 p.m. were diverted to another fire.

At 1:35 p.m., a 911 caller reported smoke coming from the area of Roaches Pond. Five minutes later, firefighters were on the scene reporting flames. The fire then raged out of control for two days, forcing 1,200 people out of their homes.

By May 1, eight homes had been destroyed and 10 others damaged.

Halifax fire spokesman Dave Meldrum said Wednesday that the email does not indicate that there was a delay in fighting the fire.

"Internal correspondence, very early after the event when we're all asking each other questions. What happened during the event? What can we do to improve? So, it's a very normal and natural conversation for an organization to have," he said.

Meldrum said the delay in the arrival of the covering fire crew likely didn't make any difference in the outcome.

"Had they been there 10 minutes earlier, would that have been enough to make a change? There was fire activity on both sides of MacIntosh Run. There was fire activity in the woods that our initial arriving crew couldn't even see," he said.

In the email obtained by CBC News, Mosher requested a re-working of internal fire service guidelines to deal with woodland fires.

Meldrum said that change has been made.