Quebec makes progress against record wildfire season, many evacuees able to return home
Posted June 12, 2023 3:19 pm.
Last Updated June 12, 2023 6:39 pm.
Quebec was on the offensive in its battle against a record wildfire season Monday.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault said there were more than 1,200 people fighting fires across the province, including reinforcements from New Brunswick and France. Thousands of Quebecers were also starting to return home as the fire situation improved.
A battalion of nearly 350 firefighters from the European Union will soon be on the ground in Quebec to help their Canadian counterparts tackle a devastating and unprecedented wildfire season.
“Within Canada, we’ve always been able to share resources among provinces, so often we’ve gone out of province or we’ve had other provinces come and help,” said Mélanie Morin, a spokesperson for SOPFEU, Quebec’s forest fire prevention agency. “Because of the amount of wildfires throughout Canada, that is why we are getting international help, which we’re very thankful for.”
As of Monday morning, SOPFEU reported 39 fires considered out of control, with operations spread out across the province.
“A large group still working on the city fires that are on the north shore; we have the French that have come to help us, which are now in the Northern Saguenay area, as well as again, there we have an incident management team that is working out of there,” Morin said.
Legault said there would likely be fewer than 4,000 evacuees by the end of the day, down from a peak on Friday of more than 13,500.
While most evacuated communities will stay that way for now, the mayor of Chibougamau said the 75-hundred residents ordered out from their homes could start returning as of today.
Marie-Gabrielle Tacka at the evacuation centre in Roberval. (Submitted by: Marie-Gabrielle Tacka)
“I’m very happy,” says Chibougamau resident, Marie-Gabrielle Tacka. She first spoke to CityNews last week after she was evacuated from the town to an arena in Roberval, about three hours away.
“We weren’t afraid because the fires were very far away and the mayor decided to just evacuate us or as a preventive measure and because there was smoke in the air,” she said. “The fire wasn’t at the city gates, so there weren’t really any worries about that, but it’s also true that you can’t predict everything.”
She had been staying in Quebec City with her daughter, waiting for the greenlight to return home.
‘We were afraid’: Resident describes evacuation from Chibougamau amid wildfire threat
“I’m going to Saint-Prime today and I’m going to sleep at a friend’s house there,” Tacka said. “And then tomorrow, my friend and I will take the road to Chibougamau.”
For fire officials, the fight is far from over.
“These fires will remain active for for several more weeks in many areas,” said Morin.
With a hope to see summer-like forecasts soon turn to rain in affected regions.
“With the bit of rain and humidity that we will get over the next few days, we’ll be able to put a lot more people working directly on the fires. And that’s what it’s going to take. It’s going to take boots on the ground over the next few weeks, finding these hot spots and extinguishing them.
– With files from The Canadian Press
