Threatened by the flames, the city of Port-Cartier declared a state of emergency for the next five days, while more than 1,000 people had to be evacuated from their residences Friday evening.
The mayor of Port-Cartier, Alain Thibault, made the announcement Saturday morning during a press conference while the flames were still raging nearly 13 km from the municipality and 11 km from the federal detention establishment. at maximum security in Port-Cartier.
“Everything happened within the established times,” declared Alain Thibault. We’re sorry if you felt rushed, but we had a lot of stuff [à gérer]. »
The evacuation notice concerns residences in Brunel Park, Dominique Park and those located north of Route 138.
The displaced residents were able to find shelter in a Baie-Comeau accommodation center. A pre-alert will be issued in the event that further evacuations are required.
The Integrated Health and Social Services Center of the North Shore (CISSS de la Côte-Nord) is carrying out the preventive evacuation of residents of the CHSLD of Port-Cartier and certain users housed in intermediate and family-type resources (RIRTF ). All of these residents will be accommodated in CHSLDs in the west of the territory or at Le Royer Hospital in Baie-Comeau.
The situation surrounding the spread of forest fires in the surrounding area remains the same as late Friday evening.
A forest fire broke out Friday noon north of the Port-Cartier penitentiary center. It then progressed and is currently 11 km from the city. Fire safety describes this fire as “extremely violent and threatening”.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY A WITNESS
A second fire is still underway at Walker Lake. The latter has gradually grown and is currently “uncontrollable”. For the moment, teams from the Society for the Protection of Forests against Fire (SOPFEU) are not able to tackle the flames.
Around twenty firefighters are already on the ground and a team dedicated to protecting infrastructure will be deployed.
Certain precautions for non-evacuated people are required:
- Limit the time spent outdoors;
- Leave doors and windows closed whenever possible;
- The use of an air conditioner or heat pump is authorized;
- Change the filters of your air purifier regularly;
- Limit the use of exhaust fans such as bathroom fans.
A municipal alert system has been set up so that residents can be informed in real time of the status of the situation.
Financial assistance for evacuees
The minister responsible for the Côte-Nord region, Kateri Champagne Jourdain, assured that financial assistance of up to $1,500 per evacuated residence would be offered. This aid had already been deployed during last year’s forest fires.
“Our government will continue to be there and we will provide the same support that we showed last year,” declared the minister.