Since the beginning of June, Quebec has been battling wildfires, most of which are concentrated in the the western and north-western parts of the province. The fires have resulted in thousands of people being evacuated from their homes.

There has been a total of 455 fires and 915 771.6 acres have been affected since the start of the season, surpassing the ten-year average of 229 fires per year and 2 241.5 acres affected, according to the Société de protection des forets contre le feu (SOPFEU) website.

As of yesterday, 106 fires were still active in the province, 29 of them are out of control, but the situation has drastically improved, said Nicolas Vigneault, SOPFEU spokesperson. Vigneault told CIDI that foreign aid was called in on Thursday with 100 firefighters coming from France, 120 firefighters and management staff coming from the United States, and almost 150 firefighters coming from Spain and Portugal to help contain the fires. A total of around 1,500 firefighters and management staff are currently working in the field. 

In the Eastern Townships, there are no active fires or risks of fire danger as of right now, according to Vigneault, and restrictions have been lifted that banned open fires in and near forests in the region over the last couple of weeks. However, the population needs to remain vigilant with their activities as the rest of the summer season remains unpredictable and the “fight isn’t over."

“It’s the situation for the other provinces as well. There is great solidarity all across the world actually because there are fires in Quebec, but there are also fires in British Columbia. Our own firefighters were Alberta when the situation struck in Quebec so of course we brought them back,” explained Vigneault. “There’s a federal agency that is coordinating the foreign help for all of the provinces. (…) In Quebec, the SOPFEU is working really hard and we are pleased to have that type of help that is coming from the outside.”

Vigneault noted that June 1 was the turning point in Quebec, but that the SOPFEU strategies to protect the communities in the north-western part of the province have been “working pretty well since the beginning.”

“At the end of May, we had around 15 fires that were active in the province. On June 1, there were thunderstorms all over the province and within one day we 123 fires that were lit by lightening,” he explained. “That was a turning point for us because usually with our own staff, our own planes, we can fight 30 fires at the same time — it’s not a problem for us. Of course, when you have 123 fires that are lit in a single day it turns the situation around and it kind of became out of control. Our priority at that time was to protect the communities and specific infrastructures that are essential.”

Turning the conversation to the local level, Vigneault said that the Eastern Townships and the southern part of Quebec have been “lucky, let’s say that, over the last few weeks.”

“When we looked at the map (the SOPFEU fire danger map) over the last few days and last week, there were no fires in the southern part of the province, like Bas Saint-Laurent. We’re talking about Estrie (Eastern Townships), all of these regions weren’t affected because of the rain of course. All of these regions have received rain over the last few days and the thunderstorms didn’t strike as much as they did in the northern part of the province,” he explained.

An open fire ban in or around forests has been set in place in the Eastern Townships over the last couple of weeks, but the Minister of Natural Resources and Forests partially lifted the ban on Monday, June 12.  

“At a certain moment it wasn’t [permitted] to do fires all across the province, but as far as I know the access to the forests was permitted for the south part of the province. It was the northern part of the province that the access to the forest was prohibited. (…) Now the restrictions are almost all lifted except in some areas like Chibougamau, where the fires are still quite active, and a little part of the north coast,” noted Vigneault. 

Vigneault said that it’s “impossible” to predict whether the situation will get worse throughout the summer as it depends on a number of factors, especially the weather. He added that the SOPFEU will take things day by day and continue working over the next couple of weeks to get the fires under control. 

“As I said, at the end of May everything was under control, there was no problem, it was a regular season and the situation changed dramatically within 24 hours. It’s just impossible for us to say what the future is going to be. Hopefully the rain will help us to maintain the situation,” he mentioned. 

As a result of the unpredictability, Vigneault highlighted the different steps that the population can take to avoid a fire breakout, including having a closed fire pit to avoid the spread of flames and avoiding leaving water bottles and cans lying around outside. 

“We understand that a lot of people love camping and everything and that they want to have a great summer. We understand that, but make sure that when you go to bed that the fire is totally extinguished, don’t leave it unattended. (…) Maybe people don’t know this, but actually, if you’re walking in the forest it’s in the law that it is prohibited to smoke while you’re walking in a forest. If you want to smoke, of course make sure your cigarette is totally extinguished in a proper way.”

Listen to the full interview below for more details: