Forest fires razed a record number of hectares in 2023 and this year, the “fire season” is getting off to a particularly early start in Quebec. A “worrying” situation, which does not predict the months to come, but which should at the very least encourage great vigilance.
What there is to know
- The wildfire season is getting off to an early start due to low precipitation and warm weather in recent weeks.
- Already, SOPFEU has recorded 20 fires, while the average for the last 10 years at the same date was 4.
- Spring conditions are conducive to the formation of forest fires, and vigilance is required, according to experts.
- During the year 2023, the fires that raged in Quebec razed no less than 4,300,000 hectares of forest, shattering “all records”.
“I expected a hasty start,” says Philippe Gachon, professor of hydroclimatology at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM). We have a deficit of snow on the ground almost everywhere in Quebec and abnormally warm temperatures. »
The month of March, for example, was “exceptionally hot, much hotter than usual”, and during the winter, precipitation was rather low. These combined weather factors, the expert suggests, are particularly conducive to the proliferation of forest fires.
INFOGRAPHICS THE PRESS
Fire danger level in Quebec, as of April 9
So much so that the Society for the Protection of Forests Against Fire (SOPFEU) warned Tuesday that the fire danger varied from “high” to “extreme” in a good part of southern Quebec and in Saguenay–Lac- Saint Jean. Already, the organization has recorded 20 fires, while the average for the previous 10 years at the same date was 4.
Due to the premature nature of the “fire season” – it begins as soon as the snow accumulated on the ground melts – SOPFEU has also brought forward the opening of certain monitoring stations, particularly in the south of the province.
Read the article “Forest fires: SOPFEU on the lookout earlier than ever”
Stéphane Caron, spokesperson for SOPFEU, also notes that the start of the season is “certainly early”, but he emphasizes that the fires which occur at this time of the year are generally of a very modest scale, although often “less than one hectare”. As proof, the 20 fires already listed have only affected 18.6 hectares of forest.
The first fires, says Mr. Caron, were recorded this year in mid-March: “It’s rare, but it’s not unprecedented, it’s a situation that has already been seen in the past. » Moreover, the high number of fires makes sense, according to him, since a “season which begins earlier will necessarily lead to a greater number of fires”.
But such a scenario does not “presuppose” a catastrophic scenario. “It’s significant, but we are not in a massacre,” he said. […] It is above all the precipitation which will fall in the coming weeks which will set the pace for the rest of the season. »
Spring, a “propitious” season
Many times, people think that in the spring there is little or no risk of wildfires. However, says Mr. Caron, this is a “conducive” season for their proliferation. When the snow cover disappears, it leaves behind highly flammable plants. Coupled with the carelessness of some, “who burn their trash or throw cigarette butts”, there is a “real danger”.
Philippe Gachon, from UQAM, also believes that caution is required. “The thorns and fresh herbs remained under the snow during the winter, but [au printemps], it becomes an extremely flammable fuel. » “At the slightest storm, at the slightest lightning”, a fire risks breaking out. Mr. Gachon also believes that fires of “anthropogenic origin” – those caused by human activity – can be “very problematic, especially at the start of the season”.
Last year, the fires that raged in Quebec razed no less than 4,300,000 hectares of forest, “an all-time record ever recorded” in the province, according to SOPFEU. An area greater, even, than the sum of that of the last 20 years. Only in terms of “large-scale” fires, Quebec experienced 48 in 2023, or 30 times more than the average.
Nationwide, some 18,500,000 hectares were burned, a figure significantly higher than in the last 40 years. A “year of all records”, in short, where the hard-hit soils have not yet recovered, and where the drought remains, “particularly in northern Quebec”, according to Philippe Gachon. Even if the exercise of long-term weather forecasts is perilous, he says, he does not see “a cooling in the coming months”.
The expert does not want to be alarmist, but he notes that the current season is starting even earlier than last year and that the “warming context” is more important than it was. “This is worrying, and SOPFEU is right to be vigilant. It’s necessary to be vigilant. »