Quebec Minister of Employment Kateri Champagne Jourdain responds to the Opposition, at the legislature in Quebec City, Friday, Dec. 2, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
MONTREAL – Quebec Premier François Legault says his government doesn’t have the capacity to fight all of the forest fires currently burning in the province.
Legault told reporters Monday that Quebec can fight around 30 fires, but with more than 160 burning in the province and other provinces fighting fires of their own, his government is looking internationally for support.
He said no lives have been lost in the fires, but firefighters were forced to pull back from the hamlet of Clova, Que., around 325 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
“Unfortunately, we lost control,” Legault told a briefing in Quebec City. “We are going to be obliged to let Clova burn.” Authorities said the community’s 36 residents have been evacuated.
Legault said an additional 200 firefighters are coming from France and the United States, and Quebec is also in talks with Costa Rica, Portugal and Chile as it searches for additional resources.
Fires have forced about 10,000 people from their homes in Quebec, with most of those in the western Abitibi region and the eastern Côte-Nord region. With rain forecast for the Côte-Nord, Legault said he is now most worried about the Abitibi, where no rain is expected for five days.
Kateri Champagne Jourdain, the minister responsible for the Côte-Nord region, told an earlier news conference that there were 164 forest fires burning in Quebec Monday, up from 155 the day before. At least 114 of those fires were out of control, according to the province’s forest fire prevention service, SOPFEU.
Champagne Jourdain said the fires in her region northeast of Quebec City were unprecedented. She spoke in Sept-ÃŽles, Que., a city threatened by two fires – including one no more than seven kilometres away – with a third burning not far away.
The risk hit home during a helicopter flight over the fires Sunday, Champagne Jourdain said.
“We saw that in an instant, the situation could change. So even though it may seem like it’s far at times, the fires are at our doors,” she said. “The force and the size of the fire was stunning, so we absolutely have to let the teams gain ground.”
The work facing forest firefighters is complex, she said, because even though one of the fires is not far from the city, the area is difficult to access.
She said 138 Canadian Armed Forces members arrived in the area Sunday, with another 100 expected Monday, adding that the troops have received training so they can support the province’s wilderness firefighters.
With the help of the soldiers and a weather forecast that includes significant rain, Sept-ÃŽles Mayor Steeve Beaupré said he’s hopeful the fire nearest his city can be brought under control in the coming days. The other fire is moving north, away from the city, but it grew Sunday afternoon.
“There are still concerns about the progress and behaviour of the fire,” he told reporters.
Beaupré said an evacuation order that has forced about 4,500 people from their homes remains in effect, and he encouraged people to avoid going outside because of the heavy smoke.
“We all know you’re anxious to get back to your homes, but I’d like to ask for a bit more patience, so that when it is possible to return, you can sleep soundly knowing that you and all the members of your family are safe,” he said.
In Lebel-sur-Quévillon in northwestern Quebec, where a fire has forced around 2,000 people from their homes, Mayor Guy Lafrenière said Monday an evacuation order remains in place. While winds were pushing one fire away from the city, authorities had begun monitoring a second fire that could head toward the municipality.
More than 156,000 hectares have burned in Quebec this year, compared with a 10-year average of 247 hectares as of the same date, SOPFEU said.
Smoke from the fires has also led to Environment Canada smog warnings across large swaths of Quebec, including in Montreal.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2023.
