REPORTING. “It’s apocalyptic!” : in Canada, uncontrolled forest fires ravage northern Quebec

Martine observes with concern the huge plume of smoke a few kilometers away. The comings and goings of water bomber planes do not seem to calm the fire. Like the other 700 inhabitants of the village of Normetal, in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, she was evacuated. And does not hide his concern: “We received an alert to leave immediately. We took the bare necessities, our medication, our laundry, a little bit. We got news that the fire was a mile from our house. Now nature decides“, she slips.

>> Fires in Canada: more than 100 million inhabitants of the United States concerned by air quality alerts

While Canadians are used to wildfires, the situation today is unprecedented, with fires starting very early in the season due to drought. Therein northern Quebec, we see a plume of smoke 30 kilometers around.

Several villages had to be evacuated and hotels or gymnasiums of the region, twice the size of Belgium, serve as a refuge for the victims. Some have lost their homes. This resident of La Sarre, in Abitibi-Ouest, fears that she too will soon be evacuated. “The majority of small villages are being evacuated, she sighs. And La Sarre is in the middle of it all. We are preparing mentally, but the situation is really not encouraging.“

All the inhabitants met do not hide their pain: “My heart hurts, the forest is our identity and our economy too”says one of them. “It smells like fire! It’s like there’s fire in the yard! It’s apocalyptic!”describes a woman.

No rain until next week

Hundreds of firefighters from the United States, Mexico, South Africa and Portugal have already been called in to help. France announced on June 4 that it was also sending firefighters. But closer to the fires, the situation is very difficult to control for the firefighters on the job. Because, they say, these fires are unpredictable, even uncontrollable: there is a lot of wind, squalls, gusts, and fires break out here and there without warning, sometimes 500 kilometers from each other, both the area is large and wooded.

At the origin of these approximately 80 fires to be managed at the same time, storms last week: lightning struck this area of ​​already very dry forests, softwood and hardwood forests. It has not rained since and authorities are not expecting rain before early next week. It is difficult to establish an initial assessment of these fires, of the number of hectares of forest that have burned, and the situation is changing very quickly.

In the neighboring United States, from Vermont to South Carolina, health authorities have already warned that the fine particles present in the atmosphere could exceed levels harmful to health and cause breathing difficulties for the inhabitants, who were invited to limit the time spent outdoors.