(Sept-Îles and Montreal) The forest fire that has the residents of Sept-Îles, on the North Shore, in suspense, is now about 16 kilometers northeast of the city, but the authorities say that it hasn’t made any worrying progress since Friday. No other evacuations were announced Saturday morning.
“It’s a big one,” says Yves Bolduc, through the crackling of the headphones. The Press boarded an Air Tunilik seaplane to fly over the huge blaze.
The pilot, who works for this company, has been flying over the region for 25 years to bring vacationers to the many outfitters in the territory. Never, he says, has he seen such a big blaze as fire 172, the forest fire that has held Sept-Îles in suspense since Friday.
After being reported about forty kilometers northeast of Sept-Îles a few days ago, it is now only 16 kilometers from the municipality, a little south of the junction between the Moisie and Nissipis rivers.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Thanks to the cool night weather, the fire had calmed down by Saturday morning, although huge flames could be seen more than 3,000 meters in the air, the limit allowed for civilian flight around the fire.
The wind carried the imposing plume of smoke towards the city where a whitish veil hangs to the east.
Several devices in action
At the scene of the fire, at least two tanker planes from the Society for the Protection of Forests against Fire (SOPFEU) bombarded the flames despite the relatively early hour in the day, guided by a plane-commander, a sign of the fire. urgency of the situation.
Two helicopters could also be seen. “Normally, they will wait until later in the day when the fire has resumed”, explains the pilot of Air Tunilik, Simeon Alexander.
As for the second forest fire that threatened Sept-Îles, north of Lac Daigle, it seems to be extinguished. A large plume of smoke still emanated from it on Saturday morning.
“SOPFEU will surely send teams to the field to ensure that it is indeed extinguished”, describes Simeon Alexander.
Tense atmosphere
In the morning, in Sept-Îles itself, the atmosphere was tense, particularly in the Sainte-Famille district, located to the north. Its residents had received instructions on Friday to be ready to evacuate and the presence of many trailers in front of the houses gave a clue to their preparation.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
According to the authorities, 10,000 people had to leave their homes on Friday as a precaution in Sept-Îles, where around 25,000 people reside.
On his porch, André Charbonneau watched the trucks of the Sûreté du Québec pass in his street. Police officers from Quebec and Montreal were there on a reconnaissance operation on Saturday, ready to assist the population if needed.
However, other preventive evacuations will not be necessary for the moment, announced the mayor of Sept-Îles, Steeve Beaupré, at a press conference at 10 a.m.
The army as reinforcements
A total of 200 soldiers from the Canadian Armed Forces will arrive on site to lend a hand over the weekend, announced the minister responsible for the North Shore, Kateri Champagne Jourdain.
Work to fight and contain active fires near Sept-Îles continues. During the night from Friday to Saturday, the temperatures and winds were favorable to the SOPFEU teams.
Twenty firefighters are on site and SOPFEU is preparing the ground to be able to receive more resources, said spokesperson Isabelle Gariépy.
A total of 1,500 people from the Innu community of Uashat mak Mani-utenam also had to leave their homes on Friday, said coordinator Jean-Claude Therrien-Pinette.
As for the CISSS de la Côte-Nord, 47 people have been evacuated to major centers so far, in particular to Montreal, said Manon Asselin, CEO of the CISSS. Forty others should also be soon.
Residents of CHSLDs would head for Baie-Comeau if an evacuation order affected them, also pointed out Ms.me Asselin.
“We still hope that Mother Nature will be favorable in the coming days,” finished the mayor of the municipality.