Forest fires | ‘Unstoppable’ blazes

(Opitciwan) The fires in Quebec are making people talk beyond our borders. French firefighters who came as reinforcements recently told the New York Times their battle against fire near the Atikamekw community of Opitciwan, more than 300 kilometers north of La Tuque.

On June 13, an out-of-control fire was rapidly advancing down a logging road, ripping through Canada’s sprawling – and highly flammable – boreal forest with a force and intensity that bewildered a team of French firefighters.

Surrounded by thick smoke, a handful of them went deep into the forest in search of water. A veteran knelt and sketched a plan with his right finger on the gravel road, urging to attack the fire head-on.

But the commander is not convinced. The fire, he says, is of an unimaginable immensity in France. Conifers are of a combustibility that they have never encountered. Trying to extinguish this small patch would be “useless”.

“We are not at home,” says Commander Fabrice Mossé, as a plume of fire rises from a nearby group of trees. At the same time, a Canadian logging supervisor who had led the French to the scene nervously asserted that “the fire will last longer than expected”. “The fire is going to happen any minute. We can talk, but let’s do it 20 kilometers away. »

Back at base, Fabrice Mossé shares an observation: “If anyone in New York wonders why there is smoke, it is because the fires here are unstoppable. »

“Unstoppable,” he insists.

First reinforcements

A group of 109 French firefighters arrived in northern Quebec two weeks ago to help nearly 1,000 Canadian firefighters and soldiers. These are the first foreign reinforcements to help the province deal with the extraordinary wildfire outbreak that has sent smoke to New York and other North American cities, forcing millions of people to stay home because of unsafe air quality.

More than 400 wildfires have burned across Canada. But much of the smoke over New York is coming from Quebec, which is unaccustomed to so many gigantic fires and has already seen the worst wildfire season on record, while it remains another two months to this one.

The experience of the French contingent illustrates the challenges of fighting Canada’s wildfires as climate change increases the risks to its boreal forests, the world’s largest intact forest ecosystem and Earth’s largest carbon vault. .

Accustomed to tackling much smaller fires quickly and aggressively in France, French firefighters must adapt to a land space the scale of which has left them stunned: Quebec, a province three times the size of France. , is ravaged by fires sometimes a hundred times larger than those they are used to facing.

According to a French commander, fighting fires in Canada is “fatalistic”: fighting fires often means letting them burn, especially in sparsely populated areas, and trying to prevent them from spreading.

“For us, it is absolutely impossible to let the fires burn,” said General Eric Flores, head of the French contingent, originally from Hérault, in the south of France, a region regularly affected by forest fires. “In my department, there is not a fire that is not less than 10 kilometers from houses and people. If I let it burn, it will spin out of control. That’s why we attack fires very quickly. »

The Battle of Opitciwan

Initially deployed in three regions of northern Quebec, the French converged on an area called Opitciwan – a hotspot located about 630 kilometers north of Montreal by road.

The battle for Opitciwan takes place in a typical zone of the boreal forest inhabited by a single community of approximately 2000 Atikamekw gathered in a reserve not far from a critical hydroelectric dam.

Gravel and dirt roads, traced by a Quebec forestry company, Barrette-Chapais, crisscross the vast area surrounding Opitciwan, which is also home to the vast ancestral hunting grounds of the Aboriginal community.

Until the arrival of the French, several huge fires north of Opitciwan had been ignored, the Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU) having concentrated its efforts on the inhabited areas of the province, in particular the largest city, Chibougamau. When the fires reached a radius of 20 kilometers around Opitciwan, hundreds of elderly residents, children and others were evacuated to Roberval, located about four hours away.

Flying over the area in a helicopter, Mr. Flores noted that the fire closest to Opitciwan was contained, but that two other larger fires, to the north, were still raging and were not under control. Smoke blanketed the forest and hundreds of fire pits were visible below.

Large areas were incinerated, sometimes right next to areas that were still green. Isolated cabins, belonging to residents of Opitciwan, could be seen, some burned, others still intact but very close to the flames. No wildfire-related deaths have been reported in Quebec, with damage mostly confined to cabins and rural cottages.

defensive attitude

Unable to confront the fires directly as they would have at home, the French took a defensive stance by clearing embers in charred areas next to untouched areas, in consultation with their SOPFEU liaison, Louis Villeneuve. , a veteran of more than two decades.

Conifers contain a lot of sap, which burns quickly and acts as an accelerant for fast-moving wildfires, shooting flames high into the air that can cross roads and other obstacles.

Not far from their base – a logging camp that General Eric Flores had fortified by rapidly felling the trees along its perimeter – dozens of French firefighters went to pickup deep in the forest, near a lake. A single cabin, belonging to a member of the Opitciwan community, stood at the edge of the lake, intact for the moment.

A helicopter ferried small teams even deeper into the forest, dropping them off at hotspots. There, the French attempt to put out the fires smoldering beneath the surface, dotting the ground with water they pump from nearby lakes and streams, to prevent the fires from reigniting. and spread to virgin areas.

It is a long-term job, which consists of repelling fires likely to come back to life in the heat of the coming summer.

“We are not used to going to areas that have already burned,” said Jérôme Schmitt, 37, a French firefighter who is waiting for the helicopter to pick up his team. “Usually we go to fight the fires, but we are adapting. »

Being informed is the key

The day after his arrival in the Opitciwan region, Eric Flores unexpectedly visited the community, which is not covered by a mobile phone network. He found his leaders holding an emergency meeting in the town hall. Residents, including many members of the community council, are increasingly worried and critical of the loss of several huts.

At the request of Jean-Claude Mequish, Chief of Opitciwan, Eric Flores was quickly interviewed live on community radio to provide an update on the fires.

“People don’t have information,” says Mequish.

However, the chief of Opitciwan knew what the cabins meant: life on ancestral lands, attachment to culture in the forest. In the spring and fall, all of Opitciwan would shut down for two weeks as members headed into the forest to reconnect with nature.

“Everything burned,” said Steven Dubé, 46, during an interview at his kitchen table with his wife, Annick, 45.

Along with their relatives, they lost six cabins, tents and canoes on their ancestral lands. They picked blueberries, hunted moose and partridge, and fished for pike, trout and walleye.

“We will go back there,” he said. We will rebuild in the same place. »