The wind is now playing in favor of Lebel-sur-Quévillon. Fire 344, which threatened Wednesday to span Route 113, is now moving away from the only access road between the town of Jamésie and the south. The smoke, however, will make conditions “very intense” through Sunday, according to city hall.
“Today, the winds will come from the southwest. That should help us, ”said Mayor Guy Lafrenière in the morning. The same winds, however, are blowing the smoke towards the city, resulting in conditions that will continue to be “very intense” through Sunday.
“Stay indoors as much as possible, recommends the chosen one. If you are bothered by the smoke, it is strongly recommended to wear the N95 mask. The Abitibi-Témiscamingue Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS) also warns the population against “generally poor” air quality and heat that can exceed 30°C.
Rain should be expected for a few more days, according to Environment Canada weather forecasts. The first precipitation should fall “Monday and Tuesday, specifies Guy Lafrenière, which should help us a lot. We don’t give up! »
On Wednesday, fire 334, which has been circling Lebel-sur-Quévillon since June 2, had managed to cross the Bell River which meanders near the municipality. The teams “immediately” succeeded in slowing down its expansion and pushing it back to the other side, specifies the mayor. The troops now stand between the blaze and the river to prevent it from advancing west again.
In Chibougamau, a thick cloud enveloped the city on Thursday morning, due to a phenomenon called “temperature inversion”. The latter ensures that the cold air is trapped under a dome of hot air, thus preventing the dispersion of smoke in the atmosphere.
Air quality is affected: Thursday noon, the concentration of fine particles in Chibougamau was 8 and a half times higher than the annual guideline value of the World Health Organization.
Relief, however, on the front of the flames. Fire 379, which remains nearly 80 km from Chibougamau, had not progressed “significantly” towards the municipality for the past 24 hours.
About a hundred fires are active throughout Quebec, 80 of which are in intensive intervention zones. Among them, 21 remain out of control. Since the start of the season, the fires have burned more than 5,500 km2 of territory. By way of comparison, in Alberta — which is also experiencing a particularly devastating season — 14,300 km2 of forests have already burned since 1er January.
On the same date last year, the fires had ravaged 26 times less, or 547 km2.
Logging company counts its losses
The fires have also destroyed about 60 forest machines so far. The value of the equipment gone up in smoke is in the tens of millions of dollars. Logging contractors will have to pay average deductibles of $50,000 to collect their insurance.
“Two of my machines and my trailer To fuel oil burned, not to mention my three construction trailers, which probably burned too,” calculates Éric Tremblay, a logger from Dolbeau-Mistassini who harvests wood near Senneterre.
He estimates that these losses amount to $1.2 million, a value that these $450,000 insurances will not be enough to reimburse. “I never imagined that everything could burn all at once,” sighs the 45-year-old man. The blow barely cashed, he is already wondering if he will resume his activities, once the fires are extinguished.
“I’m going to wait a bit before making a decision, but it’s going to take some help for the small entrepreneurs, otherwise there’s a big gang of them who will stop”. It also remains to be seen what the forest will offer to harvest in two years, once the burnt wood has been collected.
Thursday morning, the Parti Québécois asked for emergency government assistance for forestry contractors. The government should reimburse the insurance deductibles paid, according to the political formation, in addition to offering a loan guarantee for the replacement of lost machinery.
With The Canadian Press.