SENNETERRE | Hundreds of evacuees due to the fires near Lebel-sur-Quévillon settled as they could in the neighboring town of Senneterre. Many of them have found refuge in the municipality’s secondary school while waiting for the green light to return to where they came from.
More than 2,100 people had to leave their homes in Nord-du-Québec in a hurry to reach Abitibi-Témiscamingue, after their Municipality had given the evacuation order during the evening of Friday.
The vast majority of them went to register with the City of Senneterre in the parking lot of the arena, before going to join relatives in safety. Others, like Roger Harvey, are not lucky enough to have family members or friends nearby and have had to fall back on the emergency accommodation center at Polyvalente La Concorde.
“My whole family is in Quebec. I had nowhere to go close, so we came here, ”he says, sitting at an outdoor table with his brother.
Change of program
Mr. Harvey had the surprise of his life when he arrived at his home in Lebel-sur-Quévillon around 6:30 p.m., after a long nine-hour journey from Quebec. In the process of selling his house to be closer to his family, he had planned to rent a truck this weekend to take some of his belongings.
“It changed my plans quite a bit. At least our luggage was packed, jokes the man who works in robotics. We had a big to-do list. It’s going to take us a little longer, but we’ll get there the same way. […] Anyway, what more can we do?
Feverishness
According to another resident housed at the high school, there was excitement in the air in the days preceding the evacuation. The village gas station welcomed more cars and motorized vehicles than usual and there was “more activity than normal”.
Vincent Desbiens / Le Journal de Quebec
Singh Jason (left) and his colleagues Théo Bolzoni (centre left), Adam Furcy (centre right) and Don Mccoe (right) had to leave Lebel-sur-Quévillon as quickly as possible on Friday evening.
“It’s true that people were ready, because it happened so quickly in Chapais that we were all a bit on our guard,” confirms Jason Singh, a Frenchman who came to work at the factory. of Resolute Forest Products in Lebel-sur-Quévillon.