The rain that began to fall since Monday gives a “good” helping hand to the workforce fighting forest fires in the most critical sectors of Quebec, but not enough to put out the fires, warn the authorities.
Tuesday afternoon, the Society for the Protection of Forests against Fire (SOPFEU) reported 112 active fires. Of this number, 76 were in the intensive zone, of which about twenty were considered uncontrolled.
SOPFEU is assessing the impact that the precipitation will have on the ground, which started in the North-West and should continue until Wednesday for certain regions.
“If the rain falls in sufficient quantity, it allows SOPFEU staff to intensify the work directly on the ground to work on the fires and prevent the fires from starting again once the dry weather returns,” said Katia Petit, Associate Deputy Minister and Government Coordinator for Civil Security, at a press briefing on Tuesday morning.
At his side, Julie Coupal, deputy director general of SOPFEU, specified that the precipitation should make it possible to reduce the intensity of the fires and their spread. However, while areas have seen more sparse amounts, some of the fires could pick up in intensity due to a return to drier weather over the next few days, she said.
Mme Coupal also warned that as a whole the task remains “colossal” and that the “fires are big”. More than 2.8 million hectares have been affected by the fires since the beginning of the year, a number that includes the intensive and northern zones.
“In my 26-year career, I had never seen so many hectares burned,” she said.
South Korean Reinforcement
Faced with this situation, help from outside the province or from auxiliary combatants remains more necessary than ever.
A hundred South Korean firefighters will thus join the ranks of Quebec as of July 2, confirmed Julie Coupal, while the agreement which allowed the arrival in reinforcement of Spanish and Portuguese firefighters expires this end of the week.
SOPFEU also hopes for an extension of the assistance offered by the Canadian Armed Forces, as well as positive responses to requests for additional resources, such as the rotation of staff from abroad.
France has also renewed its aid by promising to deploy on Wednesday a new contingent of around a hundred firefighters, in order to take over from those who have been demobilized recently.
These external staff are very useful, argued the Deputy Director General of SOPFEU, since they already have a framework.
In total, more than 1,300 responders are currently mobilized to fight forest fires in Quebec. Teams should be able to rely on air tankers again on Tuesday, which had been grounded due to reduced visibility caused by smoke.
Patience for evacuees
In terms of evacuations, many people who have been forced to leave their homes will still have to take their troubles patiently. Of the approximately 4,400 evacuees at the moment, a “small part of them” could return home on Tuesday, Katia Petit said.
This is the case for those who live in the Lac Villebon sector, in Val-d’Or. The city announced Tuesday that the evacuation notice issued a week ago will be lifted by the end of the day for these residents.
But for the majority of those evacuated, “it is still much too early to decide” on a possible reintegration, said Mme Little.
She specified that sectors must be secured, such as Route 113 which gives access to Lebel-sur-Quévillon, in Jamésie.
The fires near this municipality in Nord-du-Québec, which is under a new evacuation order, are among SOPFEU’s priority interventions. In particular, the teams built mechanized stop lines to surround the last source of fire between Lake Josselin and Route 113.
Special efforts are also targeting fires in the Senneterre, Normal, Lac Simon and Louvincourt sectors, in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, as well as Chibougamau, Mistissini, Obedjiwan and Micoua.
In Chibougameau, municipal authorities indicated on social networks on Tuesday that the fires raging very close to the municipality had experienced “no significant progression” the day before.
A similar observation on the side of Senneterre, where the municipality mentions on Facebook that the “situation has been relatively stable for two days” and that “the air quality is improving”.
SOPFEU indicated that it does not prioritize resort areas, such as camps and chalets.
To Europe
Forest fires in Quebec are now being felt as far away as Europe. According to NASA, smoke from the fires raging in the Belle Province has reached the Old Continent.
The US space agency says satellite images taken on Monday show the smoke spreading from the North Atlantic to the Iberian Peninsula, France and other parts of Western Europe.
NASA says air quality in Europe has not deteriorated as much as in Canada due to the height of smoke in the atmosphere.
Over the past weekend, Environment Canada issued smog warnings for much of southern Quebec. Parts of the western part of the province are still under an air quality alert.