Nothing is gained for the three municipalities evacuated from Jamésie and Abitibi-Témiscamingue. The work of firefighters and SOPFEU continues to protect homes and contain the blazes that still threaten Normétal, Lebel-sur-Quévillon and Chibougamau.
Normétal: “They are working really hard to save their village”
In Normetal, a municipality of Abitibi-Ouest on the Ontario border, blaze number 281 is still only 500 meters from the town. A team of more than 50 people from New Brunswick arrived as reinforcements on Friday, according to Cathy Elliott Morneau, spokesperson for SOPFEU, as did additional air tankers from the United States.
This specialized team will be able to ensure the coordination of the workforce directly on site.
Local volunteer firefighters have been working hard for several days to save their homes and property, according to Luc Goudreau, director of fire prevention in La Sarre, a neighboring town of Normétal, in Abitibi-Ouest.
“They took a dump truck and put a pump in it to water in an area that needs to be wet all the time,” he says. They work really hard to save their village. »
On social networks, encouragement to the teams on site elsewhere is going well. The situation is not yet stable enough to allow evacuated residents to return home, according to Mr. Goudreau.
Lebel-sur-Quévillon: a monumental fire 5 kilometers from the city
Difficult news for the residents of Lebel-sur-Quévillon, in Jamésie: they will not be able to return to their homes until next week, Mayor Guy Lafrenière told them at a press conference on Friday morning. The approximately 2,100 citizens are those who have been evacuated for the longest time in Quebec at this time.
The number 344 fire that led to the evacuation of the city a week earlier (and which had passed half a kilometer from the Nordic Kraft factory last weekend) could return to the municipality due to blowing winds now from the south,” explained Mr. Lafrenière. There is hope that the fire will lose vigor as it passes through already burned areas.
This 1,324 square kilometer (132,404 hectare) blaze is one of the largest to burn in the province. He was 5 kilometers from the city on Friday afternoon, according to Cathy Elliott Morneau, of SOPFEU.
The other fire that is located north of the city, number 256, will not get closer thanks to the direction of the winds. On Friday, SOPFEU teams will work from the ground and the air to try to control it. The trench between the industrial park and the city’s golf club should be finished on Friday, the mayor assured.
Chibougamau: reinforcements and favorable winds
Reinforcements have arrived in the largest town in Jamésie, which has been evacuated for two days. A first company of the Canadian Armed Forces landed at 11 a.m. Friday and the soldiers will be ready on Saturday, the municipality said on Facebook Friday. French firefighters are also due to arrive in Chibougamau on Sunday.
Favorable winds moved the fire away from the municipality on Friday and the flank of the fire that threatened the aboriginal community of Mistissini was contained. A dozen tanker planes were fighting the flames on Friday. The municipal administration announced in the evening that it was working to put in place favorable conditions for the safe return of the population, but that these conditions were not yet met.
There were 136 active forest fires in Quebec as of early Friday evening.
With the collaboration of Bruno Marcotte, The Press
Elsewhere in Quebec
In Senneterre, an Abitibi town south of Lebel-sur-Quévillon, Mayor Nathalie Ann Pelchat predicted a stable day on Friday. Only downside: poor air quality. A roadblock is still in place on Route 113. As for the lifting of the ban on going to public forests, it does not apply to sectors that are being evacuated, the municipality indicated in afternoon.
On the Chapais side, in Jamésie, the situation was also stable on Friday. “Today’s weather conditions are favorable for the region”, could be read on the Facebook page of the City of Chapais on Friday. Later in the evening, Mayor Isabelle Lessard announced during a press briefing that access to certain surrounding resorts was once again permitted. The City, however, insisted that residents be prepared for “any eventuality”.
In Sept-Îles, on the North Shore, the repatriation of patients who had been evacuated as a preventive measure was to end on Friday noon.
The situation remains stable in the sector. The two fires that threatened the city are contained. The operations of the forest firefighters and the military continue on the ground in order to extinguish them.
In the James Bay sector, the largest fire to burn in Quebec on Friday is 23 kilometers from the Eleonore gold mine. However, the winds are favorable and are pushing the fire north, said Cathy Elliott Morneau, spokesperson for SOPFEU. This blaze is under observation and the mining infrastructures, or the indigenous communities, are not in danger for the moment, she adds.