(Montreal) Thursday morning there were 142 active forest fires in Quebec, including 73 in the northern zone and of this total, only three were considered out of control, according to the Society for the Protection of Forests against Fire (SOPFEU).
However, given the increase in the intensity indices of certain fires that are considered contained, they could become out of control, according to SOPFEU.
Special efforts to extinguish fires were particularly concentrated in northwestern Quebec in the regions of Lebel-sur-Quévillon, Senneterre, Normétal, Chibougamau, Mistissini, Louvicourt and Lac Simon, as well as Obedjiwan.
Environment Canada predicts that northwestern Quebec will receive showers on Thursday and thunderstorms could occur. The federal agency specified that in Chibougamau, the conditions were conducive from the afternoon to the formation of violent thunderstorms that could produce strong gusts, large hail and heavy rain.
A ban on access to the forest on lands in the domain of the State and the closure of forest roads was still in effect Thursday in certain sectors located in the regions of Nord-du-Québec, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Haute-Mauricie, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and Côte-Nord.
In northwestern Quebec, a ban on open fires in or near the forest remained in effect and restrictions on work in the forest were still applied.
SOPFEU reported that on Wednesday, 1,343 forest firefighters, auxiliary combatants and more than 200 soldiers were at work on the various fire sites, in addition to 122 regular SOPFEU employees located in various bases of operations and at the head office.
Firefighters from New Brunswick, the Yukon, the United States, France and South Korea also took part in the operations.