Evacuated Quebecers trying to stay positive as province announces financial aid

Chibougamau, Quebec resident Isabelle Milord is keeping positive, even as the province’s wildfire fight isn’t over. She’s among the 13,500 evacuated residents in the northern regions battling the blazes, which the government announced financial aid for on Friday. And on top of being displaced, Isabelle’s dealing with work-related stress in connection to the fires.

“There’s a lot of small emergencies to deal with when you work in tourism, of course, when a region is also impacted by forest fires. We hope that our tourist summer and landscape will not be too impacted. It is a wonderful and wonderful area to visit,” said Milord.

“We don’t have control over the fires, unfortunately, but our city seems to be stable and our houses are intact.”

Milord and all those evacuated are eligible for $1,500 in provincial compensation per residence. The federal government will take care of compensating affected Indigenous communities.

“I have my small family, so it will help. There are definitely people who need it more.”

In the next week, evacuees will be able to apply online for compensation.

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“We will hope that the amount will cover the expenses for the people in hotels. Of course, when you go to a restaurant, the costs can go up quite quickly. When you have a family of four, five or six people,” said Milord.

Quebec’s Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel says the province is “reimbursing 100 per cent the extra expenses municipalities incurred putting in place intervention measures.”

After being evacuated Tuesday, many ended up in temporary shelters like arenas and schools. Milord is sheltering at her second home in Ferland et Boileau.

“The town hall was kind enough to welcome me so that I could continue to work in the field of tourism and ensure that visitors are aware that life in several cities, Cree communities also, are shut down. The weather is really, really dry there. Then there are bans on going into the forest, so we have to make sure that people respect this ban because fires start quickly,” explained Milord.

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“So we’re looking forward to going back to see try to go back to see what it’s like and I think it’s a great opportunity for us to recover from this situation, then to educate people to be careful when they go outside and make sure not to start fires.”

Quebec’s forest fire prevention agency (SOPFEU) is reporting around 140 active fires. With about 1,200 people expected to be fighting fires in the province by Monday

“It could be problematic, the weather isn’t helping us, and the winds are weaker right now which keeps the main fires in Chibougamau and Lebel-sur-Quevillon is still 15 kilometers away,” said Bonnardel.

The five-day precipitation forecast from Environment Canada suggests a respite for Abitibi, but are disappointing for the Chibougamau and Lebel-sur-Quévillon areas.

Meteorologist Gerald Cheng says that since the forecast is for five days, it could still change. “You can see that the amount of rain (until) Tuesday will generally be 10 to 20 millimeters of rain,” he summarized, referring in particular to the Chibougamau and Lebel-sur-Quévillon regions.

In the Abitibi region, rainfall is projected to be heavier, between 40 and 90 millimetres depending on location. However, projections in excess of 80 millimetres could be overestimated, according to the meteorologist, because thunderstorms are possible and “if there are, the amount of rain could be (?) very intense, but very isolated”, he explained.

-With some files from Par Pierre Saint-Arnaud et Émilie Bergeron of La Presse Canadienne