For the second time in less than a month, residents of Lebel-sur-Quévillon have been ordered to evacuate the community as a forest fire crossed Route 113 North, one of the only two access roads to the municipality.
The mayor of the municipality, Guy Lafrenière, made the announcement late Thursday afternoon. “The City of Val-d’Or will house the evacuees on the recommendation of Civil Security,” he said.
” We tried [d’éviter une autre évacuation]but unfortunately, we are forced to leave [les lieux] for a few days, he said. It absolutely takes rain for us to come back. »
Late Thursday, the Cree Nation of Mistissini, in northern Quebec, also asked its residents to evacuate the community this Friday morning. “We made the decision to evacuate the community,” Mistissini Chief Michael Petawabano posted on Facebook. The community had evacuated people with vulnerable health on Tuesday. This time, the entire population is called upon to come to Chicoutimi.
Brief return home
After an initial evacuation on June 2, the residents of this municipality in Jamésie had received authorization to return to their homes last Sunday, after more than two weeks.
The City had, however, summoned its residents to be “ready to evacuate again”. In doing so, “people expected it,” said Mr. Lafrenière in an interview with The Press Thursday evening. “It’s a surprise, but it’s not that big”, so the evacuation was going “very well”, in the opinion of the mayor.
Moreover, he said, two-thirds of the population had not returned to the city – so the volume of people to be evacuated was significantly less than on the first occasion.
And if the return home was short-lived for the Quévillonnais who had chosen to return, it will not have been futile, believes Mr. Lafrenière. “I wanted people to come and see their house and the city, which is as beautiful as it was,” he said. And this time, they had time to pack their bags and plan their departure. »
Again “out of control”
Wildfire 256, responsible for this new evacuation, began on 1er last June. At the start of the day, it was considered “content”, according to Mélanie Morin, prevention and communications agency of the Society for the Protection of Forests against Fire (SOPFEU).
However, its status rose to “out of control” during the day: on Thursday it obstructed Route 113 North, which connects the municipality to the cities of Chapais and Chibougamau. “It had been several days since [l’incendie] remained within its perimeter”, but the weather conditions allowed the blaze to expand. Strong winds from the southwest and an “extreme drought” would be in question, said Mme Morin.
Hope ”
The rain could soon come to the aid of firefighters and offer some respite to those affected by the forest fires, said Jean-Philippe Bégin, meteorologist at Environment Canada.
Between Monday and Wednesday, significant amounts of rain could “fall everywhere in Quebec, especially where there are fires”. “There is hope,” he said, although it is still too early to say with certainty about the amount of rainfall expected.
With the collaboration of Vincent Larin, The Press