Quebec deals ‘hour to hour’ with more than 150 blazes

MONTREAL — As one Quebec city that had been threatened by wildfires lifted an evacuation order on Tuesday, authorities turned their attention to communities in the northern and northwestern parts of the province where firefighters worked to beat back threats from out-ofcontrol blazes.

“We’re following all of this from hour to hour, obviously,” Premier François Legault told reporters in Sept-Îles, Que.

“If we look at the situation in Quebec as a whole, there are several places where it is still worrying.” According to the province’s forest fire prevention agency, more than 150 forest fires were burning in the province on Tuesday, including more than 110 deemed out of control.

Legault said the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region in northwestern Quebec is an area of particular concern, with the communities of Normétal and Lebel-sur-Quévillon under threat.

The mayor of Lebel-sur-Quévillon, where about 2,100 people were forced from their homes on the weekend, said the fire was about 10 kilometres outside of town, but its advance had been slower than expected. “The fire started in an area where there were no trees, which slowed it down considerably,” Guy Lafrenière said.

Other northern communities at risk include Chibougamau, where crews have been creating firebreaks, and the Cree village of Chisasibi on the eastern shore of James Bay. Firefighting resources have also been dispatched to Hydro-Québec’s Micoua substation near Baie-Comeau, Legault said.

On Monday, Legault said authorities had no choice but to leave the hamlet of Clova to burn, drawing the anger of residents. Legault said Tuesday that he had simply repeated what fire prevention officials told him — the fire around the tiny community about 325 kilometres northwest of Montreal was too intense to send water bombers. That remained the case on Tuesday, he said, but he noted that no homes had burned.

Dominic Vincent, owner of the Auberge Restaurant Clova, said by Monday afternoon the situation had improved, aided by cooler temperatures and a change in wind direction. While smoke remained visible, it was far less intense, he said.

Vincent said that for three days residents worked with crews from Quebec’s forest fire prevention agency, SOPFEU, to protect the village. “SOPFEU cut firebreaks and we filled tanks with water, along with our friends from the outfitters next to us, to be able to help the places that didn’t have water and then we tried to stop the fire along the side of the roads,” he said.

With so many fires burning, Legault said authorities were focusing on towns and critical infrastructure. He met civil security officials and firefighting teams in Sept-Îles, Que., where an evacuation order affecting about 4,500 residents of the town and the nearby Innu community of Mani-Utenam was lifted.

Sept-Îles Mayor Steeve Beaupré said the fire was no longer deemed a threat, but he warned residents to be ready to leave again should the situation change.