Sept-Îles, on the North Shore, is not out of the woods in the face of forest fires, but the City still had encouraging news when it announced Tuesday morning the lifting of evacuation notices.
Since one of the fires is less threatening, and the other has changed little, residents of the Moisie, Plages and Lac Daigle sectors will be able to return to their homes. The evacuation order is also lifted for the community of Mani-Utenam.
The mayor of Sept-Îles, Steeve Beaupré, however, called on citizens to be careful.
“The fire on the Moisie-Nipissis River is still imposing and active. It could remain so for several days or even several weeks, which means that we could again be obliged to evacuate certain sectors of the city in the coming days or weeks. he says in press conference.
Legault in Sept-Îles, Bonnardel in Abitibi
The Côte-Nord is one of the regions currently most affected by forest fires in Quebec. Prime Minister François Legault has planned to visit the region to take stock of the state of the fires on Tuesday. He must meet the civil and municipal authorities in Sept-Îles, as well as SOPFEU stakeholders, before speaking to the press at the end of the morning.
The Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Nord-du-Québec regions are also particularly affected, especially since Environment Canada did not predict on Tuesday that they would receive precipitation over the next few days.
The Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel, will go to Abitibi-Témiscamingue on Tuesday to meet with stakeholders and citizens in Val-d’Or with his colleague Pierre Dufour, the MP for Abitibi-Est. The Minister will hold a press conference in Val-d’Or at 1:00 p.m.
Firefighters from the Society for the Protection of the Forest Against Fire (SOPFEU) reported at the start of the day on Tuesday that 162 forest fires were active, including nine in the northern zone.