When Chibougamau woke up Monday morning, a trickle of ash covered the cars, like a first sign of the coming apocalypse. A fire was raging hundreds of miles from town. Louis Rivard was not too worried. Not yet.
Around 3 p.m., the tide turned. The sky filled with dust. The sun turned red, like an afternoon sunset. “I had been working outside all day and my eyes were starting to sting. You could hardly see anything at 300 meters. »
In the evening, the townspeople had to stay indoors and close their windows.
Louis Rivard’s wife asked him to stock up on water and gasoline, just in case. He complied. But for the luggage, he said to himself that there was no hurry. “The fires were 600 kilometers away. I didn’t really believe it…”
The next day, Tuesday, everything came crashing down. In the morning, a client well acquainted with the terrain warned Louis Rivard that strong winds were pushing the fire forward at a frightening speed. “If it continues, it will hit Chibougamau somewhere tonight,” he told her.
During his lunch break, Louis Rivard, who works at the SAQ, went shopping at the Rona. There, he was told that the blaze continued its mad course. He was now 60 kilometers from the city.
By evening, the fire was only 25 kilometers away.
My wife panicked a little. She said to me: “Look at the neighbours. They leave with their luggage…”
Louis Rivard
At 8:30 p.m., a neighbor knocked on his door: the mayor had just declared a state of emergency. The scene had to be evacuated immediately. Louis Rivard had no choice. He quickly filled a small sports bag. He took a picture of his house, located 200 meters from the spruce forest.
And he left, leaving everything behind.
What do you take when the sky ignites and you risk losing everything? When the authorities tell us to take only the essentials?
Louis Rivard did not have time to think about it. Almost instinctively, he stuffed three sports jerseys into his bag: that of the Bruins (by Patrice Bergeron), that of the Red Sox and that of the Équipe-Québec Foundation.
If he had to do it again, if he had had the time, he would have put his canoe on the roof of his car. It would have embarked its engines. His fishing gear. His hunting weapons. His books. His genealogy albums. His four boxes of family photos. “If it burns, it’s over. It’s not digitized, nothing. »
It’s all very personal, of course. Other evacuees are probably worried about something else: the vegetable garden, the record collection or the porcelain dishes. For the cat, to whom we left three bowls filled to the brim…
Because obviously, we tell ourselves that we will come back. An entire city can’t go up in smoke like that…
According to SOPFEU, the situation is stable. Thursday, the fire was 15 kilometers from Chibougamau, but had made little progress thanks to the work of firefighters and cooler conditions. It is not won yet, but if all goes well, the inhabitants will be able to go home on Tuesday.
If all goes well. But… if the wind turns again?
It is not only material possessions that the inhabitants of Chibougamau risk losing. For many, it is also the job that makes them live. This is the company they have put all their energy into building. But above all, it is the place where they feel better than anywhere else. At their home.
It’s the quiet street where they learned to ride a bike. The wooded area where they kissed their first girlfriend, their first boyfriend. The main street where they did the 400 shots. The park where they took their children to play. The fried potato shack. The corner convenience store. The lakes, the trails, the forest.
For Louis Rivard, it is the forest, above all.
Chibougamau is his adopted city. Originally from Sherbrooke, he chose the place for its exceptional nature three years ago.
I wanted to live in James Bay before retiring. I have five children, they are all gone. I wanted to live this.
Louis Rivard
With its thousands of lakes and rivers, Jamésie is an unknown gem for Quebecers, he regrets. “To see all this wildlife and this forest, among the purest and most pristine in the world, disappear in smoke, is infinitely sad. Our Mother Earth has just eaten a whole one. »
Reluctantly, Tuesday evening, Louis Rivard therefore took Route 167 South towards Roberval. A journey of less than three hours, in normal times. He drove all night, slowly, painfully, stuck in a sort of infernal 255 kilometer traffic jam.
“I stopped at 3:45 a.m. to sleep for an hour. I was no longer able. He drove at 10 km/h and dozed off every time the car stopped on the road, that is to say often. He arrived at the Roberval arena at 6:40 a.m.
A surreal vision awaited him. Haggard and tired refugees. Hundreds of cots lined up. The Red Cross to direct traffic. “We see that when there are dramas in other countries, with Doctors Without Borders…” This time, it was happening at home.
Louis Rivard didn’t want to stay at the arena twiddling his thumbs. He offered his services to help firefighters save Chibougamau. We told him that we didn’t need volunteers at the moment.
Thursday, Louis Rivard therefore left for Sherbrooke. All he has to do is wait, following the news: the orange sky of New York, where the N95 masks have been brought out; the daily press briefings of François Legault, as in the pandemic era. The Prime Minister has also resumed his role as a good father, explaining to the recalcitrant who refuse to follow the instructions that their life is at stake…
All he has to do is wait, in the anguish of losing his house. But also, Chantiers Chibougamau, the economic lung of the city, which employs 700 of the 7,200 inhabitants. If this major company goes there, he fears, “the city will not recover from it”.
All he has to do is wait, praying for rain. Diluvian.