Smoke from forest fires no longer causes poor air quality in Port-Cartier and Sept-Îles, Monday morning, according to Environment Canada, which warns, however, that a change in wind direction could lead to a deterioration of air quality in the coming hours.
Since Friday, fires on the North Shore have not only forced the evacuation of approximately 1,000 residents of Port-Cartier, but have also led to a deterioration in air quality in the region.
Sunday morning, Environment Canada issued a special weather forecast covering the Sept-Îles and Port-Cartier sectors to warn that smoke from forest fires could cause poor air quality and reduced visibility.
Early Monday morning, this bulletin was amended to indicate that smoke was no longer causing poor air quality in these municipalities. However, it was specified that the air quality could become poor again if the winds change direction during the day.
In its own update on the fire situation, transmitted Sunday evening on social networks, the City of Port-Cartier also mentioned that air quality will once again be an issue to monitor during the day on Monday .
The City also announced that despite the work of firefighting teams, the state of the fires changed little on Sunday. Therefore, the evacuation of residences located north of Route 138 remains in effect.
According to the municipality, teams from the Society for the Protection of Forests Against Fire (SOPFEU) continued their interventions on the ground, in addition to watering using air tankers and a helicopter. Pruning operations were also carried out by municipal teams to protect strategic infrastructure.
A meeting between the City and SOPFEU must take place on Monday at 10:30 a.m. The authorities will provide a new update on the situation afterwards.
Around 1,000 residents of Port-Cartier had to evacuate their homes Friday evening. The City has also placed itself in a state of emergency for a period of five days.