Historic fires 80 American firefighters arrive as reinforcements

Historic fires: 80 American firefighters arrive as reinforcements

SOPFEU is preparing to welcome 80 forest firefighters from the United States on Monday, who have come to help employees fight the wildfires that have been raging for two weeks.

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They will be deployed in northern Baie-Comeau where four fires, including one covering 10,000 hectares, are still ongoing.

Two of these fires are under control and two more are contained.

The SOPFEU warehouse is expanded to accommodate the new resources.

SOPFEU has to take stock in the morning.

The government again banned access to the forest in several sectors yesterday afternoon.

This measure will come into effect on Monday noon and will affect Nord-du-Québec, Côte-Nord, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Mauricie and Outaouais.

This is “the biggest season in the history of SOPFEU for 50 years,” said Minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina on Monday morning in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.

The state of the situation on the north coast

North of Sept-Îles, the two raging fires are now considered under control, which means they will not spread any further, but work is still ongoing.

Authorities are closely monitoring the situation as it can change rapidly, especially as heat waves are expected in several regions this week.

13 fires remain active on the north coast.

The state of the situation in Mauricie

In the next few days, the flammability index could rise from “very high” to “extreme”.

15 forest fires are still active in Mauricie, one of which is out of control.

Nine of them are contained and five are overwhelmed.

The forest ban is extended to Haute-Mauricie, north of La Tuque.