More than 11,000 people are still evacuated Sunday morning due to forest fires in Abitibi-Témiscamingue and on the North Shore. While the situation seems to be improving in eastern Quebec, the picture is less encouraging in the west.
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Sunday afternoon, 148 fires are active on the territory, a slight increase compared to Saturday. Of this number, 106 are still considered out of control by SOPFEU.
Firefighters are currently working on 35 of them. These are given priority because they are located near communities or key infrastructures, such as the Hydro-Québec network.
“In a few days, there will be more than 1,000 people on the ground to fight these fires,” said the Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel, at a press conference on Sunday morning.
About 200 members of the Canadian Armed Forces are currently on the ground on the North Shore. Staff from the Sûreté du Québec have been deployed in the regions at risk and 300 firefighters from abroad are expected by the end of the week to come and lend a hand.
French President Emmanuel Macron maintained on Twitter that “a hundred of our firefighters are preparing to go and fight the flames alongside their Quebec comrades”.
“We are facing a situation that we have never seen: fires of such intensity on our territory, in a context where the other Canadian provinces are also affected. Normally, we share resources in situations of forest fires, which is not possible at the moment,” explained the Minister of Natural Resources and Forests, Maïté Blanchette Vézina.
- Listen to the interview with the journalist on the spot Andy St-André followed by Céline Brindamour, Mayor of Val-d’Or via QUB-radio :
Encouraging on the North Shore
Sunday morning, 4,500 people are still evacuated on the North Shore, mainly in Sept-Îles and in the Innu community of Mani-Utenam.
However, rain is expected Tuesday in the region for 72 hours, which should help firefighters fight the fires.
It is too early to know when the evacuees will be able to return to their homes.
Harder in the West
About 5,500 people are currently evacuated in Abitibi-Témiscamingue and surrounding areas.
Saturday evening, the City of Val-d’Or asked the citizens of several sectors located on the outskirts of downtown to the east to evacuate “immediately”.
People are still being evacuated to Lebel-sur-Quévillon, in Nord-du-Québec, in the community of Lac-Simon, in Abitibi.
“In Abitibi, it’s a little more complicated. The weather is nice, but the low temperature also helps us. The winds are more favorable at the moment,” said Minister Bonnardel.
Normétal, in Abitibi, as well as the village of Val-Paradis and part of that of Beaucanton, located in Baie-James, had to be evacuated at the end of the day on Sunday.
The City of Senneterre declared a state of emergency on Sunday afternoon. However, no evacuation is planned at this time.
The municipality of Normetal, in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, has also declared a state of emergency and citizens must evacuate.
Don’t go to the forest
Since Sunday morning, it is forbidden to be in public forests on a large part of the territory of the Laurentians, Lanaudière, Outaouais, Mauricie, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean , Côte-Nord and Nord-du-Québec.
“We saw people in precarious situations. SOPFEU firefighters, when they are helping citizens who are in danger in the forest, they are not putting out fires,” said Minister Blanchette Vézina.
She also called on Quebecers not to go to the forest in regions that are not affected by these bans.
“If there are other accidental fires of human cause, it will require the intervention of SOPFEU. We want to contain the fires we currently have and not start others, ”she explained.