The weather conditions make it difficult to fight forest fires. The lack of rain and the very high temperatures forecast for the next few days are giving new impetus to the fires raging in Quebec on Thursday, forcing Lebel-sur-Quévillon to be evacuated a second time in less than a month.
In the afternoon, the mayor of the town of Jamésie, Guy Lafrenière, again asked the population to leave their homes. “Unfortunately, Route 113 is now blocked by fire,” the official-elect wrote on Facebook. For this reason, the civil defense strongly recommends the complete evacuation of the city. The 2,180 Quevillonnais had until 6:30 p.m. Thursday evening to set off.
The day before, the fire had first managed to encroach on Route 113, but firefighters were quickly able to extinguish the escape line. On Thursday morning, the wind appeared to be having a positive impact on the site, moving the flames away from the 113. However, the lack of rain and the heat fueled the fire and dashed any overly hasty optimism.
“We have to leave for a few days,” warned Guy Lafrenière. It absolutely, absolutely needs rain before we get home. »
However, the rain is expected to hold off until Monday or Tuesday. Environment Canada, meanwhile, is forecasting an increase in mercury levels over the next few days. Faced with this bounty of nature, several fires take the opportunity to find new winds and thwart the firefighters.
Two new fires broke out between Wednesday and Thursday, bringing the total to 104. Of these, 80 are in the Intensive Protection Zone, ie in the southern part of the territory of Quebec, where most of the population is concentrated.
“If several fires get out of control, the speed of spread will increase,” warns the Society for the Protection of Forests from Fires (SOPFEU). In addition, since the beginning of the week, four more contained fires have gotten out of control. »
Some fires are making “significant progress,” the company adds, and the risk of others breaking out is “also significant.”
A total of 1,476 people are involved in fighting forest fires, of which 1,316 are active on site. The situation required the seizure of 21 tanker planes and 78 helicopters, and the mobilization of reinforcements not only from Europe and the United States, but also from other Canadian provinces and Army ranks.
Chibougamau under the smoke
Around Chibougamau, two runaway fires are still mobilizing more than 160 firefighters. SOPFEU is continuing to build a helipad to combat the 379 fire that required ground and aerial irrigation work on Wednesday, as well as the construction of a stop line to protect a Hydro-Québec substation. Efforts made Wednesday had succeeded in slowing the fire’s progress: The city of Chibougamau said Thursday that the fire had made “no significant progress” since the previous day.
If the Chibougamois can’t see these fires, still dozens of kilometers from their town, they might smell them. A dense cloud shrouded the municipality of Jamésie on Thursday due to a phenomenon called “temperature inversion”. The latter ensures that cold air is trapped under a warm blanket of air, preventing smoke from spreading into the atmosphere.
Air quality is compromised: at midday, the concentration of particulate matter in Chibougamau was 43 micrograms per m3, a concentration 8.5 times higher than the World Health Organization’s annual benchmark. Health.
At Normetal, after 11 days of relative calm, Fire 281 again eluded Engineer control. SOPFEU is ensuring that the flames do not threaten any community for the time being, but is still concerned that winds are favoring the fire’s spread to the northeast and into the Val Paradis sector. The machines were busy building firebreaks around the site “to better protect it as the fire approaches.”