It is “clearly” possible that Chibougamau will once again be evacuated due to the forest fires, warned Thursday Sylvain Tremblay, strategic advisor to the general management of the Society for the protection of forests against fire (SOPFEU).
In a press briefing in Quebec, Mr. Tremblay explained that the rain of the last few days has made it possible to “normalize” the situation in several places in Quebec.
“Except in Nord-du-Québec and Abitibi, where the rain has not been significant in the last hours and where it will continue not to be so in the coming days, before the resumption of good weather”, a he added.
Recent rainfall has helped calm the situation in some areas, he said. “On the other hand, it is not easy for the moment,” he recalled.
On the ground, 1,200 forest fighters and 342 soldiers are still working to contain the forest fires. About 300 reinforcements from the United States will be added on Friday. Forest firefighters who arrived Wednesday from Portugal will be deployed shortly to Lebel-sur-Quévillon and Chibougamau, while their colleagues from Spain will go to the area north of Roberval.
Good news among the bad: the respite given by the rain in some regions allows some teams to rest. “We have people who have been at work for several weeks so there are already rotations which have started, for the pilots, the managers. After 20, 24, 26 days of work, the teams take time off, explained Mr. Tremblay.
This alleviates fears, expressed last week, of a shortage of tanker pilots.
Lebel-sur-Quévillon still surrounded
Until the weather returns, the teams are trying to “organize” the fires, as Mr. Tremblay says.
In the Chibougamau sector, for example, “we made sure that the fires along the road were under control and extinguished,” he illustrated. In Lebel-sur-Quévillon, on the other hand, “it’s difficult”.
“Lebel-sur-Quévillon is surrounded by out-of-control fires right now. There are some in the north, in the south, on all the cardinal points and in addition, the evacuation routes are threatened, ”detailed the SOPFEU expert. In this kind of situation, “a few variables” can change the decisions completely.
For the moment, there is no question of reintegrating the 1,900 residents of Lebel-sur-Quévillon who were evacuated, said Jean Savard, director general of operations for the Civil Security of Quebec.
So far, nearly one million hectares of forest have burned in Quebec. It’s a figure “that strikes the imagination”, underlined Mr. Tremblay. The annual average over ten years is around 2000 hectares.
Quebec still lists 105 active fires, 38 of which are out of control. Twenty fires are also observed in the northern zone.