With about ten tanker planes and only a few hundred personnel, Quebec’s current strike force can “cover about 40” forest fires at a time, while 150 are raging, reported Wednesday the first Minister François Legault, who expects the number of evacuees to continue to rise.
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The day after the evacuation of the 7,500 residents of Chibougamau to Roberval and Chicoutimi, the Prime Minister took stock of the forest fires, as he has done every day since Monday.
Upon his arrival at the Public Security Government Operations Center in Quebec, Mr. Legault pointed out that the municipality of Saint-Félicien is preparing to receive the citizens of Chapais, in the event that they have to be evacuated again.
At the time of this writing, however, the evacuation order had still not been given by Mayor Isabelle Lessard. Those leaving voluntarily are asked to post an identification form on their door before leaving.
Stevens LeBlanc/JOURNAL DE QUEBEC
Alongside the Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel, and the Minister of Natural Resources and Forests, Maïté Blanchette Vézina, Mr. Legault was delighted with the smooth running of the evacuation operation launched in Chibougamau on Tuesday evening. . Barely “a hundred recalcitrants” were slow to respect the evacuation instruction, according to Minister Bonnardel.
“There are always a few people who resist,” commented the Prime Minister. I understand it’s scary leaving your home, but you have to think about your own safety first. So I say to all Quebecers: don’t put your life in danger. When you are asked to evacuate, there is a real risk.
The Prime Minister praised the mutual assistance shown by the people of the region. “I was really impressed last night. On social media, we saw messages from people offering evacuees to come and live with them, said Mr. Legault. There is really an exceptional solidarity still among Quebecers.
At the National Assembly, the minister responsible for Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Andrée Laforest, assured that the people of her region are ready to welcome more evacuated citizens, if necessary.
A financial assistance program for evacuees inspired by the one that was set up in Lac-Mégantic will soon be offered. “Our goal is to cover all the extraordinary expenses you have had,” summarized Mr. Legault.
The number of evacuees increases
So far, approximately 11,400 people have had to evacuate due to the 150 forest fires that are raging mainly in Abitibi, Nord-du-Québec, Mauricie and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean.
But the number of evacuees could quickly climb to 16,000 people, warned Mr. Legault, since the Cree village municipality of Mistissini, in Nord-du-Québec, prepares the evacuation of approximately 4,000 people, in northern Quebec.
Evacuations are also underway in Senneterre, in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, and in Lebel-sur-Quévillon (2000 people), where the fuel oil tanks of the Nordic Kraft pulp mill are worrying.
“The good news is that the situation has improved and is under control on the North Shore. Pretty much everyone came home to Sept-Îles,” said Mr. Legault.
Labor issue
Currently, 11 of SOPFEU’s 13 air tankers are fighting forest fires. In front of the cameras, during his briefing meeting with the authorities, the Prime Minister inquired about the staff available to operate the fleet of air tankers, which is aging. Given the mandatory hours of rest, the lack of available pilots is likely to pose an issue within a week, noted Mr. Legault. Same for the mechanics.
Stevens LeBlanc/JOURNAL DE QUEBEC
And not all SOPFEU devices can be used at the same time, since regulatory checks must be carried out every 50 hours.
“We are adding resources,” Mr. Legault later assured. In addition to the Quebec aircraft, there are now two tanker planes from Yellowknife (Buffalo Airways) and four American aircraft, which were first under contract with Nova Scotia, before being transferred to Quebec.
“Newfoundland lent us two planes, but there they have fires at home, so unfortunately they had to return to Newfoundland,” said the Prime Minister.
On the ground, approximately 520 employees are deployed, in addition to 150 soldiers. With reinforcements to come from abroad (New Brunswick, France, United States, Portugal, Spain, Mexico) over the next few days, “we hope to be able to increase that to 1,200 people,” said Ms. Legault.
Action needed, say opposition parties
During the press briefings of the opposition parties, Wednesday morning, the parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois invited the government to “double the bites” in terms of adaptation to climate change.
“Spring 2023 has to be a turning point,” he said.
In turn, the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, demanded a “solemn commitment” from the Prime Minister so that elected officials can debate, soon, the solutions to be put forward.
Considering the “direct causal link” between the impact of forest fires and climate change, the interim Liberal leader, Marc Tanguay, believes that it will be necessary to “update all government plans” accordingly.