About 100 hydroelectric plant workers had to be evacuated by plane as a precaution on Tuesday, and more evacuations are planned for Wednesday, Hydro-Quebec said.
Almost all employees of Grande-3 (LG-3), located in Nord-du-Québec, were evacuated on Tuesday due to the forest fires that continue to rage in this region.
On Wednesday, the approximately 90 workers at La Grande-4 (LG-4) will do the same. An aircraft is scheduled to land at LG-4 to take them home.
Forest fires do not threaten hydroelectric power stations, says Francis Labbé, spokesperson for Hydro-Québec.
“This morning, a hundred workers from the LG-3 power plant were transported by road to the LG-2 power plant, and from there they were taken home by plane,” explained Mr. Labbé.
What motivates this decision is that forest fires threaten the Transtaïga road, the only road link between these power stations. This road goes from Baie-James, in the west, to very far in the east, over a distance of approximately 660 km.
“That’s what’s special […] one cannot pass by other paths. There is only one road and now there are traffic lights blocking it. So to avoid it being too complex, we remove our workers from this region for a few days until the situation calms down, ”sums up Mr. Labbé.
According to the state-owned company, the evacuations should only last a few days.
Mr. Labbé assures that Hydro-Québec is following the behavior and direction of the fires, and says he hopes, like many people, to have rain soon.
Four to six people will remain on the premises of LG-3 and others will also be present at LG-4 to ensure at least that the turbine-generators can continue to operate. The facilities also have a lot of remote-controlled equipment, which allows the machines to be operated remotely, says the Hydro-Quebec spokesperson. The employees on site make sure, in particular, that they can intervene if something goes wrong.
The safety of the workers who will remain on site is in no way threatened, underlines Mr. Labbé.
In the event that it is necessary to pick up the last employees who are on the scene, “we will do it by helicopter or we will find other means”, indicates Mr. Labbé. For the moment, he says, this is not an issue since the evacuations are preventive.
He adds that the camps of the LG-3 and LG-4 plants, where the workers are staying, are in no way threatened. The camps are inside Hydro-Québec facilities and there are no fires nearby.